The Seven Deadly Sins
by Extended-Wings09
Summary: In order to prove that Hermione is not boring and not Miss Goody-two-Shoes, she takes on the dare to commit the seven deadly sins. One sin for one day. She thinks its easy, but of course, its not. Wait, what does Malfoy have anything to do with the dare?
1. Chapter 1: The Dare

AN: Got the idea from reading Full Metal Alchemist. I plan to have eight chapters, where the next seven would be one for each day, and of course, for each sin. This isn't supposed to be in-depth, but something light. Please read and REVIEW, it means the world to me when people review.

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**Chapter one: The dare**

"Happy Birthday to you!"

The sounds of butterbeer and firewhisky corks popping were deafening. Everybody in Gryffindor clutched a bottle of either butterbeer or firewhisky (but there were a few that had one of each in their hand) and was singing happily to the two red haired twins standing in the middle of the Common Room.

April Fools Day-the day where pranks are pulled and mad cackles of laughter could be heard around the world. But in Hogwarts, or rather, in the Gryffindor tower, nobody was pulling any pranks, for today was Fred and George Weasley's birthday-the two mastermind pranksters of their generation.

It was a Wednesday, and normally Hogsmeade visits were on selected weekends, but today there was an exception. Fred and George had cast an illusion spell over the common room to make it seem like every Gryffindor was celebrating their birthday to cover up the fact that the whole House was, in fact, in Hogsmeade.

Fred and George had discovered another way from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade that no teacher knew about. They were generous and decided that everybody from Gryffindor should spend this glorious day outside where they could shop and drink butterbeer as much as they liked.

From the delighted squeals and roars of laughter that stretched from the Shrieking Shack to Honey Dukes, it seemed the Gryffindors were having a blast. The rest of the school, at this time, was seated around their House tables in the Great hall, where they ate roast chicken and drank pumpkin juice just like any other day. If they had known where and what the Gryffindors were doing, they'd turn green in envy.

As midnight drew near, Fred and George gathered everybody and had them snuck back into the castle, as they knew Professor McGonagall was on duty tonight and would surely realise the repetitive sounds and movements of the fake Gryffindors in the common room.

The tapestry in the Gryffindor tower was flung aside as the students crept back in. When the last of them was safely sitting on the sofas, Fred undid the illusion while George ceremoniously held out his school hat for people to dump their presents in.

"That was fun wasn't it?" Fred shouted, in which many cheers and yells of agreement rang back at him.

"Want to do it again next year?" George yelled, waving the hat around, making the presents inside fall out.

"Of course!" People shouted back. Everybody was delirious from the fun, excitement and adrenaline rush they experienced from escaping school.

Well, except for one person.

Hermione Granger pursed her lips as she descended down the stairs from the girls' dormitories. She had refused to participate as it would've broken at least a hundred school rules. Harry and Ron had agreed to go without hesitation, but no matter how they persuaded, threatened and begged Hermione, she was bent on studying her chart for Arithmacy.

"Peeves came in her twice!" She hissed, "If it wasn't that it was _you two_ who lead the whole thing, he would've told on all of you! Including me!"

"Aw Hermione, don't be such a party pooper," George beamed. "Everybody here had a blast. It was awesome!"

Hermione narrowed her eyes, "you have a _test _tomorrow George, and you Fred, and, well, nearly _all_ of you!" She gestured to the remaining Gryffindors in the common room. The twins looked at each other and shrugged.

"We don't need to take tests to know how great we are," Fred replied, "Hermione, if you miss out on all this fun, you're going to miss out everything."

"She's boring," someone muttered.

Hermione's eyes flashed. "_Excuse_ me?" She snapped, wheeling around to look at whoever that said it.

It was a second year boy, who glared right back. "I said, you're _boring_. You're Miss Goody-Two-Shoes."

Hermione gasped. "I am _not._ I just know what is right and what is wrong. And sneaking out when you're not supposed to is _wrong_."

Harry hastily got up and gently turned Hermione around before her temper got the best of her. Ron just sat there, eating Chocolate Frogs and drinking in all the drama.

Fred, who was forever ready for fun and bets, winked at George who immediately knew what his twin was thinking of.

"How about a dare then, Miss Granger?" George asked.

"Dare?" That got Hermione's attention. She wanted to prove once and for all that she wasn't boring. She was just cautious and, okay, scared of what the teachers might think of her. But definitely _not _boring.

"Yes, dare." Fred joined his brother and the two looked down at the bushy-haired girl. "We dare you-"

"Wait!" Hermione raised a hand, "I don't want to do anything that requires rule breaking, or causing injuries to someone, or something that involves teachers."

The twins looked at each other again. "Okay then. We dare you to… commit the seven sins."

"Huh?" Everybody was blank.

"Starting tomorrow, you'll commit each of the seven sins in a week. One sin for one day, until next Thursday. Seven sins, seven days. Should be easy for you, right Hermione?"

Fred and George cracked identical evil grins.

Hermione faltered for a moment. She didn't mind most of the seven sins, but there was one specific one which she didn't really want to do.

Lust.

Ugh.

The second year boy looked at her and raised an eyebrow, edging her on. "Go on, I'll bet ten sickles that you don't complete the dare."

That was it. "I'll do it." Hermione snapped. "Seven sins? That's easy. I'll show you all that I'm not boring!" She raged.

"Okay then, it's a deal. Just so you know, the seven sins are Sloth, Envy, Anger-"

"I know what the seven sins are!" Hermione yelled.

"-Pride, Gluttony, Lust, Greed." Finished the twins in unison.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, with expressions of surprise, worry –and of course, delight.

"Ten sickles that she follows through," Harry and Ron told the second year boy.

"Whatever," the boy grumbled, "Granger's a goody-goody; she'll fail."

"We'll see about that," Hermione gritted her teeth. "Tomorrow is when I start."


	2. Chapter 2: Gluttony

**A/N: THANK YOU SO MUCH for those that reviewed. I've never gotten so many reviews for one chapter (or-ever lol) before. You guys rock!  
**

**Also thanks to all of you that put this on Story Alert/Author Alert etc. Getting those emails made my day.**

**Please continue to read and Review!**

**Disclaimer: forgot to do this last chapter, whoops. Nearly everything belongs to J.K Rowling except for any plot, characters, clubs that was not written in any book or article or interview.  
**

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**Chapter two: Gluttony.**

"Hey Hermione," Fred and George dumped their bags beside Hermione and grabbed a toast off her plate.

"Don't forget the dare," George reminded her, as if she needed reminding.

The dare had made its way to every student (and teachers, who decided to turn a deaf ear) in Hogwarts; everybody was betting their money either in favour or against her. Some people, for the fun of it, had cameras slinging around their necks in case Hermione committed one of the sins in front of them.

It was decided that Harry and Ron would be the witnesses. If the sin was not done in front of them, it would not count. As each sin was committed, they'd cross it off the parchment.

"I won't forget." Hermione said coldly, stabbing at her bacon.

"Scared already?" Fred baited.

Hermione smiled sweetly, "of course not. I haven't even started yet."

"Well make sure you do finish the dare," George mumbled through scrambled eggs, "Fred and I have ten galleons at stake here. Who knew this little dare turned out to be such a money maker?"

Hermione grunted, "I'm not doing this to make you rich."

Harry leaned across to grab the pitcher of pumpkin juice. "Which sin are you committing today?" He asked.

Hermione shrugged, "Gluttony I guess, that's easy."

Ron frowned at her. "You're not eating much to be a glutton."

She sighed. "I'm not going to stuff myself silly before class. I'm not getting this dare in the way of my education, thank you very much."

"Hold on!" George grinned down at Hermione. "Fred and I are adding one more rule. You have to commit the sins in order. If you commit anger on the wrong day, it doesn't count."

Hermione gaped. "I did not agree to this!"

"Well, that rule's posted on the notice board, so-"

Hermione gave a gasp of indignation. "You posted the dare on the NOTICE BOARD?" She yelled.

Fred shrugged, "everyone likes publicity. Besides, I need money."

"But we're nice to you," George added, "We let you chose the first sin- Gluttony. So here's the list of the sins in order. Today it's Gluttony, tomorrow is-"

"I can read!" Hermione snapped, grabbing the parchment off him.

Ron and Harry leant over the table to read the list.

**SEVEN DEADLY SINS DARE-COMMENCING ON THURSDAY 02/04**

**Gluttony  
Anger  
Sloth  
Envy  
Greed  
Pride  
Lust **

**  
**Snape entered the Hall, his robes billowing behind him, making him look like a greasy-haired, over large bat. Draco and his posse followed, all snickering and smirking at the Gryffindor table. No doubt, they had heard the dare too.

"Eat up quick, we have potions first." Harry said, glancing suspiciously at Snape who looked extremely happy this morning. It was frightening.

Hermione followed his gaze and gulped. Snape suddenly turned to look at her and gave an eerie smile. She shuddered.

"He knows," she whispered frantically. "Oh Merlin, the teachers know about the stupid dare!"

Fred and George grinned. "Oh yeah, we owled them this morning, even Dumbledore knows about it. He sent a letter back to tell us that it's such a great idea, and that he's putting down five galleons that you follow through."

Hermione was thunderstruck. "I told you to not include the teachers!" She yelled, pointing her fork at Fred's chest. "T-that's _cheating!_" She spat.

The twins hastily got up from the bench and were gone in an instant. "See ya!" George waved, "looking forward to see you at dinner, Glutton!"

Hermione grumbled under her breath. Merlin knew what Snape was planning for his lesson.

* * *

"I have… a special task for you today," Snape said, looking around at the class. Gryffindor and Slytherin had Potions together, but for some reason, both Houses were eagerly listening to what Snape had to say.

"It was planned specifically for… _somebody,"_ Snape shot a look at Hermione, who was cowering behind the massive stack of books on her desk.

"The Draught of Invigoration, who can tell me-? Why, Miss Know-it-all does, of course. Granger." Snape smirked at Hermione who, despite feeling regretful about her decision to take on the dare, had her hand shot up in the air.

"The Draught of Invigoration is a potion that stimulates the drinker's body. It refreshes them and makes them twice as energetic and hard working. However there are side effects-" Hermione answered in one breath, as usual, she was quoting it word for word from the text book.

"-That's enough. Say things that are more necessary, Granger, and you'll find yourself to be very lonely indeed." Snape said, a cruel smile forming on his lips. Every Slytherin howled in laughter. Hermione looked down, humiliated.

"Everybody is to make this potion, the instructions are-" Snape waved his wand at the blackboard and the chalk began to write words on it by itself, "on the board. The best potion receives extra credit and I shall choose one lucky student to drink it." There was no doubt who would be the one to drink it.

Hermione dragged herself to the cupboard where the ingredients were kept. She wanted the extra credit, but on the other hand,_ she_ would be the one to drink it. She sighed.

"What, finally realised that you're _that_ ugly, Mudblood?" Someone drawled from behind her. Hermione whirled around.

"Oh. It's you," she said, waving her hand dismissively as if his comments didn't matter.

Draco, cocky and blonde as ever, had his eyebrows arched so high Hermione wondered if they'd bury into his hair. He leaned against the table. "I heard some very interesting rumours, Granger. Which sin are you going to perform today? Because if it's lust, I'll warn every male- and female- you are a Mudblood after all, in the school to stay five metres away from you. Merlin knows what a filthy Mudblood might attempt to do in desperation."

Hermione placed her hands on her hips, her face flushing in embarrassment. "Go away Malfoy, I have no time for your stupid remarks." She grabbed the ingredients she needed and hurried back to her desk, where Harry and Ron were already eagerly cutting up some roots.

"I thought you were on my side!" Hermione hissed at their enthusiasm.

The two boys looked at each other guiltily. "Er, we just, y'know, wanted the extra credit," Ron lied.

Hermione arched an eyebrow, looking strangely like Malfoy a few moments ago. "You, Ronald Weasley, looking for extra credit in POTIONS?" She asked, looking as intimidating as ever.

"Well, er," Ron elbowed Harry, who ignored his not-so-subtle plea to escape from the interrogation. "I wanted to make you, er, healthy! Yeah, if I brew this properly and it's the best, that means you won't be forced down some, er, bad potion! Yeah, that's it!" He was suddenly beaming at his sudden new-found intelligence of finally to be able to find a good excuse for once.

Hermione sat down, nodding at his 'thoughtfulness'. "That makes sense. Snape never said he'll feed me the right potion, he just said 'the best'. Thanks, Ron." She smiled at him gratefully. "I knew you weren't my friend for nothing."

Ron cleared his throat. The reason was that he (and Harry) had raised their stakes to fifteen Galleons each. That meant his entire savings. He was hoping the Draught of Invigoration would stimulate Hermione's stomach and make her eat like crazy.

Harry skinned and chopped and counted carefully as he stirred like a madman. He didn't need the money; he actually thought it's best to brew a good potion to get on Snape's good side. Potions was needed as an auror. He needed the extra credit.

Hermione turned towards her own cauldron. She thought, secretly, that Ron and Harry weren't the best people to rely on when it came to Potions. It was best if she brewed it herself. Hermione fleetingly remembered the side effects that came with the potion. She gulped, maybe she'll vanish the potion and pretend to drink it instead? Hogwarts only needed one Bouncing Ferret.

She chopped and skinned her ingredients, measuring carefully, stirring with the upmost concentration. When it was time for them to pack up, Hermione was no longer so worried. Her potion was the best, there was no doubt.

Harry's was a sickening murky brown; Ron's ingredients were not blended together as he didn't stir properly and it looked like pickled pickles in a cauldron, Malfoy's was slightly better than the two, his was blue at least, though not the clear sapphire blue that was expected. Hermione's was perfect.

Snape gave a small sniff as Hermione triumphantly handed her vial over, carefully marked with her name on it. He uncorked it and looked at its contents.

"Hmph," Snape muttered, Hermione gleefully watched him try and make Hermione feel bad. "You didn't fill the vial to the brim, which I wanted you to. Malfoy, yours is the best."

Hermione's eyes widened with terror as Snape tossed her precious vial back to her, its contents vanished by Snape. She was boiling with fury, but, of course, her being angry now was useless, because she was supposed to 'be angry' tomorrow, according to the parchment the twins had given her.

Malfoy strutted up to the front, smirked at Snape and snatched the vial from the professor's hands. Malfoy had not stirred forty times clockwise in the last step, Hermione thought, judging it by its colour. He had only done thirty-something times. She swallowed as both Malfoy and Snape turned towards her.

"Well Draco, you can choose who to give this potion to," Snape said, his black eyes gleaming in cruel delight. Everybody's eyes were trained on Hermione; even the Gryffindors looked gleeful as Malfoy slowly headed towards her, his vial held out like a sword.

He stopped at her desk. "A present, Granger, because your friends are too poor to afford one." He said, shooting Ron a look. Ron's ears became red at the insult, but he didn't rise to defend himself like he would have done normally.

Hermione, with shaking hands, took the vial, uncorked it, and grimaced as the cool liquid was poured down her throat. She shuddered as the effects took place, as the potion was swallowed and made its way down. Her brain fuzzed and whirled, her inner-voice was muttering the definition and side effects of the potion non-stopping.

_"The-Draught-of –Invigoration-is-a-potion –that-stimulates-the drinker's- body. It-refreshes-them-and-makes-them-twice-as-energetic-and-hard-working. However-there-are-side-effects-of-being –too-energetic,-overly-cheerful,-having-the-constant-feeling-of-being-tickled-not-being-able-to-stand-still-nor-sit-for-over-five-seconds-and-talking-really-fast. The-effects-and-side-effects-of-the-potion-can-last-from-five-hours-to-twenty-four-hours."_

This paragraph from the text book kept replaying in Hermione's head. The voice was talking faster and faster each time. She swallowed the last of the potion and set the vial down.

Suddenly the voice in her head stopped chanting. Hermione opened her eyes and shook her head violently. Everybody was talking so slowwwly. It seemed the bell had already rung, and people were gathering up their things and leaving, disappointed at how the potion turned out to be a dud, or so they thought.

Hermione watched them move, feeling like she was watching one of those scenes in a movie where everything is played back in slow-motion, because that was what she saw, everybody moving like a troll, talking in weird, dragged out voices. It seemed comical.

Hermione giggled madly as the scene unfolded out in front of her. Honestly, they moved so slowly! Snails could beat them at a running race (if snails ran, of course).

Harry and Ron turned to stare at Hermione, astonished by the un-hermioneish giggle that came out of her mouth.

Malfoy grinned. "Mudblood-" he started.

"That's funny! Stop it!" Hermione giggled, doubling over as she felt the annoying sensation of someone tickling her. The tickling feeling had hit all her ticklish spots, and she kept rolling on the ground, crashing into the desks and chairs as she laughed with tears of mirth flowing down her cheeks.

Even Malfoy was at a lost. When did Hermione laugh so cheerfully at being called a Mudblood?

Harry and Ron grabbed their own copies of the text book, and finished reading the same time as each other. Malfoy was positively beaming, whereas Ron and Harry were casting worried looks at each other, staring at Hermione who was giggling and rolling on the floor with an astonishing fast speed.

"C'mon," Harry muttered to Ron. They heaved Hermione up, who was giggling and saying, "you guys are trolls, so slooowwww!" and dragged her out the classroom, with Malfoy clicking away with his camera that had mysteriously appeared.

"Get lost!" Ron snarled as soon as the camera clicked. Malfoy skipped to one side, avoiding the kick Harry had aimed at him.

"We'!Icanmove!" Hermione was speaking really fast and neither Harry, Ron nor Draco could make out what she was saying. She was wriggling around so much that Ron and Harry dropped her in order to save their poor arms.

"!" She squealed, "Seeyouinclass!" And then she dashed down the corridor like a wreck train.

"How is she supposed to commit Gluttony?" Harry wondered, "She won't be able to sit at the table long enough to eat lot's of food!"

Ron turned to punch Malfoy in the face, but found the obnoxious boy had already gone. The warning bell rang above them and the two friends gave each other another worried look before running to their next class.

* * *

Hermione sat down at her desk, stood up again, then sat, then stood, then sat. The transfiguration teacher was looking at her coldly, with a tinge of curiosity and disproval at her model student acting so…energetically.

"We…can…explain," Harry panted as he and Ron came crashing into the room just as the final bell rang.

"Please," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "Why is Granger acting like that over excited owl of yours, Weasley?"

Ron flushed at the mention of Pig. "Er, we had potions before and-"

"Of course, The Draught of Invigoration. I should have known Severus would do anything to win ten galleons off me. Sit down Potter and Weasley, I shall restrain Granger from running around the class." The teacher brandished her wand, and cast a full body bind of Hermione, forcing her to sit on the chair without moving.

"Whyiseverybodysoslow,professor?Evenyou?OhMerlin,it'sme,I'mfast!" Hermione shrieked. McGonagall winced and waved her wand again. "I'll also gag her," she added.

Hermione's lips were sealed shut in an instant. "Mhmmhmhmhmhmhm!" She said in muffled tones. Her eyes were darting around quickly and her fingers were aching to scratch herself to get rid of the itchy, ticklish feeling.

Class ended too slowly for Hermione, and towards the end, the spell that gagged her had worn off. She was forever yelling out answers and shouting cheerfully at how nice every body looked. Of course, nobody understood her words. She was also laughing and giggling all the time.

Most of the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws (who took Transfiguration with the Gryffindors) had decided to change their minds and bet that Hermione couldn't commit gluttony today, seeing as she was too restless.

This meant though, that Harry and Ron, who still had faith in Hermione would earn much more money than before. This was the only optimistic thought that crossed their minds.

Lunch couldn't come around soon enough. The students (and secretly teachers) who had betted that Hermione would commit the sins, were sorely disappointed with her performance at the table. She didn't sit down at all; instead she sprinted from one end of the hall to the other, grabbing a small bun as she did. She barely ate enough to fill her stomach, let alone be recognised as a glutton.

The rest of the day slowly past to the rest of the school, who had to endure loud cackles, being pushed over as Hermione dashed down the corridor for fear of getting late to class, being kicked at as Harry and Ron attempted to aim them at Malfoy who always managed to avoid them.

Malfoy was the only one (and perhaps Snape) who was smiling gleefully at the turn of events. Malfoy always got a kick out of bullying Hermione, and Snape had his pride and money to keep. The truth, (Merlin forbid it got out) was that Malfoy had not brewed the Draught of Invigoration, but a deadlier, more powerful potion. A potion that make the drinker develop a phobia of meat and vegetables.

Malfoy couldn't wait when the day was over, he and his club will be raking in the galleons.

* * *

"EW!Vegetablesandmeat!Ican'teatthis!" Hermione screamed, knocking over a poor first-year and running out the Great Hall, where a chorus of laughter followed her.

Ron and Harry, out of breath, finally caught up to Hermione, pinned her to the ground and half dragged her to the Hospital Wing. They needed that potion out of her system. Or they would lose Ron's entire savings.

Oh and the minor thing that Hermione was embarrassing herself in front of the entire school

Half an hour later, and with less than fifteen minutes til dinner was over, Hermione was back to her normal self, much to their relief.

"I can't believe I acted so foolishly!" She hissed, her face flushed as she thought about her actions.

"Well dinner's nearly over, you need to go to the Great Hall!" Harry dragged her by the left arm and Ron grabbed the other.

"We've got Galleons at stake, 'Mione!" Ron moaned, wondering how he'll be able to save up for the newest broom.

Hermione shook herself from their clutches and dashed ahead. She ran, gasping her breath, slipped onto the bench and started grabbing everything in sight.

From the Slytherin table, Malfoy watched with horror. His plan had failed! Trust that Mudblood to outsmart him, that know-it-all…

People all around her were booing, but a few were cheering for her.

Hermione saw Harry and Ron from the corner of her eye slip on either side of her. She made an extra effort and managed to swallow an entire pudding in one gulp, which caused her to grab the pitcher of water and gulp down its contents.

She was so full by the time the dishes in front of her were cleared away. She was positively green. It was a tough job keeping all that food down.

"We've got a GLUTTON!" Ron whooped, "Hermione Granger has committed the first sin!"

Boos echoed around the Great Hall. "You should have more faith in Hermione," Ginny lectured them, "but thanks to all of you that changed your mind, I'm going to get richer!"

Fred and George clapped Hermione on her back. "Thanks Hermione!" They chorused, slapping her on the back again. That was it for Hermione. She jumped up and ran to the nearest bathroom, throwing up all the contents in her stomach into the toilet before slumping down and groaning. One thing was certain: she would NEVER take on any foolish dares again.

Ginny helped Hermione to her feet and gave her a goblet of what Hermione recognised as a potion that helped with indigestion and stomach pains. She mumbled her thanks and gulped the contents down, gagging at the taste.

"Harry and Ron are outside," Ginny informed her, "They want to show you something… _interesting_." The younger girl made a sudden grin, that didn't escape Hermione's attention.

"What… sort of thing?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Oh, you'll see," Ginny answered mysteriously. "C'mon, I'll help you."

Together the two girls made their way outside where Hermione's two best friends were waiting patiently.

"What's all this fuss about?" Hermione asked, "What's so important?"

But none of her friends would answer her, and instead steered her to the notice board.

"Harry and I have just placed our names down," Ron said, pointing to the large parchment on the noticeboard.

Hermione followed his finger and read with horror. The parchment was split into two sides, with a crooked line drawn with ink down the middle.

"THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS DARE," She read, "Place your bet down here on either side and you may win a lot of money!"

_LEFT SIDE: I bet that Hermione Granger DOES follow through and complete the dare! [write your name and House down, and the amount of money you are betting.]_

_Ginny Weasley, Gryffindor, 5 galleons.  
Albus Dumbledore, Gryffindor, 5 galleons.  
Minerva McGonagall, Gryffindor, 10 galleons.  
Rubeus Hagrid, 20 galleons.  
Dean Thomas, Gryffindor, 10 sickles.  
Seamus Finnagan, Gryffindor, 5 knuts.  
Lavender Brown, Gryffindor, five sickles.  
Parvati Patil, Gryffindor, five sickles.  
Harry Potter, Gryffindor, 15 galleons  
Ron Weasley, Gryffindor, 15 galleons.  
Gred Weasley, Gryffindor, 10 galleons.  
Forge Weasley, Gryffindor, 10 galleons.  
Neville Longbottom, Gryffindor, 12 sickles.  
Luna Lovegood, Ravenclaw , 21 sickles.  
Dennis Creevey, Gryffindor, 15 sickles._

_RIGHT SIDE: I bet that H.G DOES NOT follow through and complete the dare._

_Draco Malfoy, Slytherin, 50 galleons.  
Pansy Parkinson, Slytherin, 15 galleons.  
Severus Snape, Slytherin, 10 galleons.  
Sybill Trelawney, 5 galleons  
…_

The right side of the parchment had at least a hundred names on the parchment, and several more sheets of parchment followed. It seemed that except for a few of Hermione's friends, the rest had betted for her not to follow through. This only made Hermione more determined to complete the dare more than anything.

Then something caught her eye, another piece of parchment was stuck above the Betting Parchment.

"What's that?" Ron asked curiously, he pulled it down.

Ginny, Harry and Hermione crowded around him and read it.

_CALLING ALL INTELLIGENT PEOPLE!!!_

_JOIN IN THE HERMIONE GRANGER SUCKS CLUB AND BE IN TO WIN A LOT OF VALUABLE THINGS!_

**_Objective:_**_ To make sure that the right side of the betting table wins, and to prove once and for all that Hermione Granger is a bossy, know-it-all, boring, Miss Goody-two-shoes person._

**_Benefits_**_: every member gets twenty galleons upon gaining membership, plus a free fifty galleon spending money in Hogsmeade AND free access (for a limited time) to Severus Snape's personal potions storage! (conditions apply, see below.)_

**_HOW TO JOIN:_**

_Step 1: Write your name down on this parchment.  
Step2: Send the president a suggestion on how to make sure Hermione Granger does not complete the dare.  
Step3: You're IN!_

**_CONDITIONS TO JOINING_**

_You must provide at least one suggestion per club meeting.  
You must attend all club meetings (at the library, after dinner)  
You must make sure that all potions that you brew (whether during class or not) goes towards preventing Hermione Granger from committing the sins.  
You must not leak out information on what the club is planning to do next.  
You must recognise the president as the best wizard in the whole school._

_Club President: Draco Malfoy  
Vice-President: Draco Malfoy  
Secretary: Pansy Parkinson  
Treasurer: Draco Malfoy._

Hermione was positively steaming as she finished reading. She snatched the paper out of Ron's hands and looked at the people who had signed up. It seemed every Slytherin had, among some Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students. To her immense relief, not one Gryffindor had joined, though she suspected this might due to fear of the Weasley twins.

"Whoa, Hermione, cool down." Ginny placed her hand on Hermione's shoulder and gently patted her back. "Bottle it up and save it for tomorrow."

"Malfoy, that stupid git," Harry said furiously, "I'll kill him!"

"Why that is such a _genius_ idea, Potty!" Malfoy drawled from behind them. The four friends turned around, their wands pointed at Malfoy who lazily brandished his as well.

"I'll have that back, Mudblood," with a twitch of his wand, the parchment sailed out of Hermione's hands and into Malfoy's outstretched ones.

"Remember Potty and Weasels, My club is still looking for members, you know what to do. Club meeting is every day until next Wednesday after dinner at the library." Malfoy smirked at the outrage on their faces. "Even blood traitors and half-bloods are welcome, unfortunately."

With a howl of rage, Ron launched himself onto Malfoy's retreating back. Harry and Hermione just managed to get him off, but not before allowing him to give the obnoxious boy a punch in the gut.

Ron struggled to get free, but Harry and Hermione were strong enough to hold him still. "Don't Ron-You'll get into trouble!" Hermione begged.

But none of them thought to restrain Ginny. She took two strides forward and a split second later she performed the best Bat-Bogey Hex they had ever seen. Malfoy whimpered and dashed down the hallway.

"There," Ginny said satisfied. "It makes him nicer to look at."

Hermione and Harry released Ron, who was panting heavily. "H-Hermione," he said, his face and ears deep red, "you better bottle up all your anger and release it all on him and his club tomorrow. And it'd be MY turn to bring along a camera."

Hermione smiled. "You know what, Ron? That might be your best idea yet."

Suddenly all of them couldn't wait until tomorrow after dinner.


	3. Chapter 3: Anger

**A/N: Again, thanks to everybody that reviewed! They were much appreciated. :]**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that J.K Rowling does in this story.**

* * *

**Chapter three: Anger**

Breakfast was surprisingly pleasant for Hermione, for some reason, people kept complimenting on how good her hair looked today, even though it was still bushy as ever. Some Gryffindors subtly (but not enough) shuffled everything on the table so that Hermione's favourite dishes were in front of her.

The strangest thing was that Malfoy and his club members (consisting of nearly one hundred members) were all smiling at her and gushing at how good her grades were and how pretty she looked.

Not once did Malfoy utter the word 'Mudblood'.

"Don't be fooled." Fred warned as he stole another piece of toast from Hermione's plate. "He's trying to make you feel happy so you won't get angry today."

"I know that," Hermione said, but she was smiling nevertheless. "But it just feels so good not to be bullied and looked down from Slytherin for once."

Ron gave a grunt. "They should be nice to me too, after all, what if I do something to make you angry? Then all their efforts would be wasted."

Suddenly thousands of owls swooped in, and the ceiling was covered with the fluffy, feathered creatures as they searched for the people the mail was supposed to be delivered to.

"What the-?" Hermione gasped.

A whole avalanche of letters and parcels dropped onto the table that had been conveniently cleared by Harry and Ron as they noticed what was happening. Nearly every letter and package was addressed to –who else? Hermione Granger.

Fred reached out and grabbed the one on top. "I'm helping." He said.

"Wait!" Hermione snatched the envelope from him, "it could be dangerous. They probably sent in some pus or something like last time to get me hospitalised!"

"Nah," Ron said, reaching out and lifting the biggest parcel of the lot from the pile, "If I was Malfoy, I'll buy a really great present to please you, then you won't be angry."

Harry grabbed another present too, "Better to make the most of it, Hermione," He advised wisely, while tearing off the wrappings. "Whoa! Awesome! It's the newest broom cleaning kit!"

Hermione frowned, "obviously they haven't done much homework. I hate quidditch. You can have it Harry."

Fred and George started opening presents too, and each found something they liked. Fred got an ordinary looking sweater, but when he put it on, it started shrinking and singing Christmas songs.

George got a box of Chocolate Frogs that were spelled to never stop jumping. The chocolate would melt as soon as someone touched it, it would jump away and the chocolate frog would turn normal again.

Fred and George turned to each other, "Awesome!" they exclaimed, digging for more treasure.

Ron opened his and discovered the broom he had been saving up for. He gaped in astonishment as the wrappings fell away. "I-oh, I can't," he stuttered.

Hermione tore open the envelope in her hand, "Dear Hermione Granger," she read, "You are really awesome and I wish you a happy day. Signed, DM."

Draco Malfoy. DM.

She sat back from the pile of presents. She knew what Draco's club was doing. They were buying their way into Hermione's circle of friends to prevent them from pissing Hermione off and making her feel angry.

But Hermione shrugged; if Malfoy went into the trouble of getting all these wonderful presents for her and her friends, why waste his efforts?

She joined in and found all the things which had been on her 'must have' list. She uncovered piles of muggle novels that she wanted, along with the newest wizard non-fiction books on defensive spells, and plenty of other books that she had seen in the bookstores but didn't buy. She found a nice hair grooming kit to manage her bushy hair, and a similar one for cats. Somebody even sent her an extremely valuable diamond necklace that was spelled to make the wearer feel cheerful and stress free.

Soon, Ginny, Neville, Dennis, Luna and everybody else excluding the two teachers that had betted for their friend found presents that suited them quite well. A glance at the teachers table saw that Dumbledore that received an enormous joke book and McGonagall had received a hair-ball cure should she decide to transform into a cat.

As the students filed out of the Great Hall, Hermione heard somebody shout out, "You would look pretty in that necklace I sent you!" from behind her. She didn't even need to turn around to see who it was.

Draco Malfoy of course.

"It's too valuable," Hermione said sweetly, "It doesn't belong on to a, what did you call me?-oh right, a 'Mudblood'. I'll save it for tomorrow, thanks though." Laughing, she walked to her charms class leaving a fuming Malfoy behind.

With Fred prancing around proudly in his new sweater, and George placing the Chocolate Frogs down everybody in view's robes, and Ron stroking his new broomstick lovingly and Harry polishing his new broom painstakingly, Hermione decided that her friends were utterly useless.

"I'm supposed to feel angry!" She moaned, "But I just feel, I don't know, pleased!"

"Aw, Hermione, the dare doesn't matter anymore," Ron murmured, "I can lose a bit of money if I get this broom in exchange."

"A _bit _of money?" Hermione said incredulously, "Yesterday you were telling me to complete the dare because you didn't want to be poor!"

Professor Flitwick beamed down at Hermione, "I can give you a T for your essay, Miss Granger, if that would make you angry. I placed down ten galleons myself this morning."

"Er, thanks professor," Hermione stammered, "But getting a T would make me feel extremely sad, not angry."

"Oh," the Professor sighed sadly. "Too bad," and then he walked away to his chair where the stack of books was waiting for him to stand on.

Throughout the day, the teachers who had betted that Hermione would follow through treated her nastily, while teachers that betted that she wouldn't complete the dare treated her extremely nicely. It was confusing, but despite the efforts of the teachers, Hermione couldn't feel angry. (Snape gave Gryffindor a hundred points simply for Hermione attending class, and took away fifty points from Slytherin for 'using up Granger's oxygen'.)

Lunch pretty much happened the same way as breakfast did, with Hermione's favourite food piled in front of her and people from all around her were complimenting and waiting on her. She felt unnerving at the turn of events.

But then Harry had a stroke of genius. "You have a free class next, right? And then History of Magic, what about you stay in the Room of Requirement until after dinner?"

Hermione's eyes gleamed at his suggestion. "Excellent, Harry!" She beamed, hugging him.

Professor Binns had also, much to their amazement and surprise, placed a bet down that Hermione wouldn't follow through the dare. So he wouldn't dare to take off points for Hermione not attending class today (and the fact that he doesn't exactly know who she is). Hermione didn't mind missing out this particular class today, because she had charmed a quill for Harry which would write down everything Professor Binns would say in class.

"Why couldn't you charm my quill, and I'll go with you?" Ron moaned, "My hand cramps after History of Magic."

"Nonsense," Hermione said crossly, "You never take down notes, so why bother if you don't make the effort? I'm going now, see you at the library after dinner!"

There were five hours to kill before the meeting would start. Hermione decided to go straight away to the Room of Requirement.

"I need someplace to make myself angry," she muttered, pacing along the corridor, "God this sounds weird, I need a place to make myself angry…"

She grabbed the knob that appeared and pulled the door open.

"oh…no…." She whispered.

* * *

If it was Malfoy that the dare was placed on, he would have committed anger a long time ago. Leaving Crabbe and Goyle behind in the Common Room, and deciding to skip class, he stalked outside to the grounds to cool himself off.

The plan of pleasing Hermione Granger and her idiot friends was failing. She had not fallen for the trick of wearing the spelled necklace, nor did she seem overly pleased and happy about the presents.

And now Hermione was no where to be seen, no doubt she was brewing some potion or learning some spell that would make her really angry.

At first, betting against Hermione and forming that club was just for the fun of it, but now, to Malfoy, it was getting serious. He had to see Hermione suffer and feel humiliated. He wanted her to_ lose_ that damn bet!

If she lost that bet, not only would he earn money, but he would have plenty more friends to bully Hermione and her pet potty and weasel with. He can call her names with more choices to pick from, and will have evidence to back him up, it would be extremely entertaining to see Hermione stutter and stammer for once.

He summoned his broomstick and kicked off from the ground. He was fairly good; he had the strength, flexibility and concentration of a good quidditch player, but, he was definitely not the best. The idiot scar-head was, being titled with things like, 'youngest seeker in the century' and 'genius quidditch player' yada yada yada.

He was still seeker, but even his team sometimes scorned his seeking. He had a knack of teasing the opposition too much to pay attention to the actual game. He had lost several times due to this.

Spelling some golf balls so they flew around, he practised his seeking, all the while planning and plotting to outsmart Hermione Granger.

He probably won't be able to stop Hermione committing anger this time, but there were still five others to pick from. Stop her from committing one sin, just one, and she'll fail.

It didn't take him long enough to pick one sin and aim for that one. Lust would be the easiest. No normal boy (and girl, he thought cruelly) would want to look attractive for that filthy Mudblood. There was no doubt Hermione was less of a girl than Blaise, who was notorious for his constant check in the mirror to make sure no strand of hair was out of place, but he had noticed the way she sometimes looked at the weasel.

His eyes widened at that thought. Perhaps…

He caught the five golf balls, and smirked. His target will no longer be Hermione; instead he decided that he'll torture Weasel instead. If Hermione fancied Ron, but Ron suddenly turned out to be a huge, smelly, slimy git, she would definitely be disgusted, and bingo! She won't commit Lust.

Congratulating himself on this stroke of genius, Malfoy headed back into the castle. He needed to do some research.

But the most important thing was that nobody was to find out about this plan until he executed it. Not even to Crabbe and Goyle, because they would no doubt make a mistake or let something slip.

No, making Ron Weasley the most disgusting, unfavourable git was going to be Draco Malfoy's personal job.

* * *

Harry and Ron wondered how Hermione was faring all throughout dinner. They kept stealing surreptitious looks at Malfoy who was looking far too happy for his own good.

"D'you think she's real angry now?" Harry muttered to Ron.

Ron shrugged, "I hope she is. Now that I think about it, having that broomstick_ plus_ extra money seems better than getting a broomstick and losing money."

Harry sighed at the selfishness of his friend, but then he couldn't judge Ron. Harry had a small fortune in his bank whereas the entire Weasley's vault had less than a quarter of what he had altogether.

Harry saw the Slytherins getting up from their table and nudged Ron. "They're leaving. C'mon, let's go."

Ron stuffed another chicken drumstick in his mouth before getting up and following Harry. "mmf mmmf mmmmmf?" He asked, through his fill mouth.

"I dunno, she must be at the library already," Harry answered, somehow understanding Ron.

* * *

"The second meeting of Hermione Granger Sucks club comes to order," Malfoy said, stretched out on a green sofa he had summoned.

"First, new comers of this club will be presenting their suggestions first, then the older members, understand? You can collect the money next Wednesday, so you all better attend every meeting."

The librarian was nowhere to be found in the library, so the club could make as much noise as they did. Harry suspected the librarian was part of this whole club and dare thing too, just like Snape was.

Ron and Harry lingered outside the library, eavesdropping onto the club meeting as they waited for Hermione to show up.

"What's taking her so long?" Ron muttered, "I hope she comes in time and is seriously pissed."

Harry summoned his broom cleaning kit and began to continue to polish his broomstick, whereas Ron did several laps on his broom around the corridor to kill time.

There was a loud crash, followed by heavy footsteps. Ron stopped in midair. "You hear that, mate?" he asked, his eyes darting around.

"Yep," Harry sent his broomstick and cleaning kit back and took out his wand. "I hope it's not another troll."

"Nah…." Ron squinted in the darkness. "Too short to be a troll. It looks like- Blimey!"

Hermione came tearing down the corridor, looking like a mad witch. Her bushy hair was flung out in all directions, her robes were billowing behind her, and her hands were white as it clenched her wand tightly.

Jumping up, she pulled Ron down from the broom, making him fall onto his backside. "Ouch Hermione! That hurt!" Ron complained.

"Serves you right!" Hermione snapped, "I never should have forgotten about what happened in first year, or in the third year, or at the Yule Ball… outrageous! I cannot believe you uttered those words and I forgave you!"

"And you!" She wheeled around and turned towards Harry, who was doing his best to look invisible. "How many times have I helped you, and how many times have you repaid me? But.." she breathed, "you're better than this red-haired bully over there."

Harry and Ron looked at each other, half scared and half amused. Hermione Granger was angry alright.

But she didn't stop there, she flung open the doors to the library and stormed in, making the desks and shelves of books sway dangerously as she stormed into the grand room.

All conversations stopped immediately. Everybody was looking at her.

"Well Granger, how nice for you to drop in," Malfoy said, smirking. "You can have my seat-"

"Oh don't pretend to be nice, Malfoy. Don't you remember what I do when I'm mad?" Hermione snapped.

She strode forward and punched him in the face, much to everybody's amazement. "I wanted to do this since a long time ago!"

She pulled out her wand to curse Malfoy and everybody in this club, but Harry got there in time and snatched it off her with his amazing reflexes as a seeker. Ron just plopped down on the sofa Malfoy had offered Hermione, stuffing his fist into his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

"Somebody restrain her!" Malfoy yelled frantically, hiding behind the table.

Harry stepped back and joined Ron on the sofa. "This is going to be great," he murmured to Ron, who nodded in agreement.

"Why'd you take her wand away?" Ron complained, "I want to see Malfoy as the amazing bouncing ferret again."

"Had to, if she killed him she'll get expelled."

"Pity though, if she did kill him, mind, that would save us a lot of time."

Somebody brave (and foolish) enough had tied Hermione to a wooden chair. But that didn't stop her from screaming and yelling.

"I AM NOT BORING!" she yelled. "I'M NOT MISS GOODY-TWO-SHOES! I'VE DONE HEAPS OF THINGS THAT YOU WOULDN'T EVEN DARE TO DO, MALFOY, YOU COWARDLY FERRET!"

"Somebody gag her!" Malfoy whimpered.

Hermione bit at whoever tried to tie their tie around her mouth.

"FIRST YEAR: WENT TO THE FORBIDDEN FLOOR, WAS OUT OF BED AT NIGHT, LIED TO TEACHERS, SMUGGLED A DRAGON. SECOND YEAR: STOLE THINGS FROM SNAPE, MADE POLYJUICE POTION. THIRD YEAR: HELPED SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPE, HELPED BUCKBEAK ESCAPE, USED THE TIME-TURNER ILLEGALLY, WENT INTO THE FORBIDDEN FOREST, SNUCK INTO HAGRIDS HOUSE WITHOUT HIS PERMISSION, KNOCKED OUT SNAPE! HAH! I HAVE DONE MANY MANY THINGS THAT YOU WOULDN'T DARE TO DO MALFOY! SOME THINGS I HAVE DONE IN FOURTH AND FIFTH YEAR YOU WOULDN'T EVEN BEABLE TO STOMACH! I AM NOT A GOODY GOODY BORING PERSON!"

She took a deep breath and was about to continue when somebody spoke behind her.

"Excellent, Granger." Snape said curtly, "By confessing to all these crimes, you've no doubt earned yourself a trip to the headmaster's office. Get Potter and Weasley to pack your bags."

Malfoy came out from under the desk, still managing to look malicious and evil even though pure terror still strayed on his face.

"Shame Granger," he said, "I will miss having fun bullying you."

Hermione was led glumly out by Snape, who was looking triumphant. Harry and Ron followed, struck with terror at this turn of events.

Hermione turned around and looked at Malfoy with pure hatred. "I'll get you," she warned, her face still flushed with anger.

Malfoy looked at her retreating form solemnly.

"Wait professor." Everybody turned, amazed as Malfoy sighed and addressed Snape. "Let her go."

"Excuse me?" Even Snape was at a lost.

"There are still five more sins to go, professor, let's wait until next Thursday before kicking her out."

"Of course, Draco," with an evil grin, Snape released the stunned Hermione. "Of course."

Draco had the exact same evil grin on his face. Trust Snape to know what he was thinking of. Hermione had humiliated him in front of all the Slytherins, he needed to get his revenge.

The next sin was Sloth. Draco would make it so she'll be afraid to sleep tomorrow.

Oh how fun it would be…

* * *

Harry and Ron trailed behind Hermione as they made their way to the Gryffindor tower. Hermione had calmed down after Snape had appeared and told her she was going to be expelled.

"Whatever made you so… crazy?" Ron asked tentatively, "you seemed… out of character."

Hermione shrugged. "The Room of Requirement." She answered shortly.

"Well, whatever it did to you in there, it made you like Harry." Ron said, glancing at him.

"If you must know," sighed Hermione, "There was a movie theatre-that's a place where muggles go to watch moving pictures," she added at Ron's bewildered face, "It played back every memory of how people humiliated me, bullied me etc. Most consisted of that stupid Malfoy's face though," she said scowling.

"That's it?" Harry said, "it showed you your life story and you got so mad that you… well, er…"

"Of course not," she said crossly, "it gave me some potions which enhanced my emotions and actions. It made me do what I wanted to do, but would never dare to."

She sighed, burying her head in her arms, "I can't believe I took such drastic measures in order to follow through this bet-"

"Yeah, you normally get angry pretty fast," Ron butted in, "But _never_ this angry."

"-It nearly got me expelled!" moaned Hermione, "Pigs head," she added to the Fat Lady who was listening with interest.

With a sigh of disappointment, the Fat Lady opened the entrance to the Common Room and the three crawled in.

"Dumbledore would never expel you," Harry said comfortably, "He probably knows everything that you did."

"But," Hermione said thoughtfully, sitting down on one of the sofas, "why would Draco Malfoy help me? Isn't getting me expelled his dream or something?"

"Don't get your hopes up," Ron warned her, "He's just prolonging it. He's going to stop you from committing the sins so he can win money and then he'll encourage Snape to expel you."

"I guess, but why though? He's losing far more money this way, if his club continues on. And by expelling me that means I wouldn't be able to commit the sins in front of you two which means that I won't be able to follow through on the dare."

"Maybe he's taken a fancy to you," Harry sniggered.

"Fat chance," Hermione replied, the corners of her mouth twitching. "Though that would be extremely entertaining."

"I'd say," Ron agreed.

* * *

Malfoy was in his Common Room too, with Pansy, Goyle and Crabbe following his every move with their eyes.

"Why is it," Pansy demanded, "That you get so worked up about that filthy know-it-all? You act so immature around her."

Malfoy stopped pacing. "How am I supposed to know?" He snarled. "I do that to _every_ Mudblood."

"Stop lying, Draco." Pansy warned, "If it was some other muggleborn taking on this dare, you wouldn't have bet with so much money and would never have started such a club , let alone stopping Snape from expelling them."

"Look," Malfoy said impatiently, "I have my reasons for stopping Snape, if she was expelled tonight, how was I supposed to torture and bully her?"

"Why do you bully her?" Pansy asked suddenly, "why _her_?"

"Because she's pothead and Weasel's friend, okay?" Malfoy answered, his pale cheeks flushed.

"You know what I think?" Goyle said, "I think you fancy her."

Malfoy, Pansy and Crabbe turned to look at him, "What a stupid thing to say," Pansy said, shaking her head. "Honestly, if you were going any slower, you're gonna be going backwards."

"Yeah," Malfoy echoed, "What a stupid thing to say."


	4. Chapter 4: Sloth

**A/N: Bright and early this time! Please read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter four: Sloth**

Hermione was really glad that it was Friday night and that she wouldn't mind sleeping in tomorrow. Fred and George must have planned it out so that she could perform Sloth on Saturday without worrying about classes. She was strangely touched about their thoughtfulness.

Then again, if they had organised it for her to sleep in on a school day, she would never ever do that. The twins probably knew Hermione placed school before anything else on her list, and that would mean that they would lose money.

Lavender and Parviti were getting into bed as well, watching Hermione as she crawled under the covers. Both of them wanted Hermione to sleep well; they had placed down bets for her to follow through.

"Hermione," Lavender said suddenly, "Have you drunk the sleeping potion yet? I heard that Madam Pomfrey uses it and it makes people sleep like a log or something."

Hermione opened her eyes, "No..." she said thoughtfully, "I was so concentrated on Anger I forgot to get a flask from Madam Pomfrey. Do you?" She asked hopefully.

"As a matter of fact," grinned Parviti, "We do. We went to the hospital Wing earlier."

Lavender poured the liquid in the flask she had been holding in her hand and into a goblet. She offered it to Hermione who took it appreciatively.

"Fanks," Hermione's voice was muffled as she drank the potion. As she licked her lips, she suddenly realised something weird with it.

"This... doesn't taste like the sleeping Draught Madam Pomfrey gives to student," Hermione said worriedly. "It's... far bitterer."

Lavender checked the label on the flask. "It says Sleeping Potion-one goblet full per troll- oh Merlin's Beard!" She shrieked. "We took the wrong Potion! This one's for Trolls!"

"Spit it out!" Parviti exclaimed, "Spit it out!"

Hermione shook her head, "I can't... it's already gone down, I'll just sleep anyway... Tell Madam Pomfrey tomorrow afternoon about this... I'm... really...tire-" Suddenly Hermione's head was flung back and she was snoring softly as the potion's effects kicked in and she slept.

Lavender and Parviti looked at each other, their faces struck with terror.

"Oh well," sighed Lavender, "We'll deal with the problem tomorrow."

"I guess..." Parviti said uncertainly. "But what if the dosage is so strong, it kills her?"

Lavender shrugged, "She's not dead yet, so I think she'll stay alive for a little while. Don't worry."

* * *

Midnight came, and Hermione's eyes were suddenly forced open.

Like a puppet, she jerkily flung away her covers and walked down to the common room, her eyes were glassy as she moved.

Harry and Ron were still in the Common Room, catching up on some homework that some professor had insisted they hand it in tomorrow. They relaxed at the sight of Hermione, thinking she would help them. But then they both realised that she should be in bed sleeping.

"Hermione!" Ron hissed, "Go back! You're supposed to be a Sloth, right?"

But Hermione didn't even answer him, she didn't even look at him. It was scary.

"Er, Hermione?" Harry asked, standing up and approaching her. "Are you okay?"

"I need to walk around." Hermione said. "It's something I have to do." She spoke with a strange un-Hermione-ish monotone voice.

"No you don't," Ron said forcefully, "You need to sleep. You're supposed to commit Sloth!"

"I need to walk around-" Without finishing her sentence, Hermione headed out the through the hole and pushed the Fat Lady away, who squawked in protest.

"Where are you going?" The Fat Lady demanded, "You should be asleep!"

"I need-"

"I heard you, young woman, so go walk around in the common room!"

But Hermione just slammed the portrait shut, right into Harry's and Ron's faces, ignoring the three protesting voices behind her.

Hermione slipped into a secret passage way behind a tapestry and walked outside to the shed where the broomsticks were kept.

Hermione Granger, scared of flying, was picking a broom to fly around the grounds with.

* * *

Malfoy smiled as he turned in his sleep. His dream was not unlike what actually happened several hours before.

Escaping from Pansy and her annoying interrogation, Malfoy had bumped into Lavender and Parviti who were on their way back to the Gryffindor tower.

At first he was going to make some nasty comment, but then thought that he could use them. He noticed they were giggling (as usual) and hiding something underneath their robes. From eavesdropping into their conversation, he learned that it was a Sleeping Draught stolen from the Hospital Wing.

He acted swiftly. He stupefied them, grabbed the flask (and smirked as he saw the label), and switched its contents with the potion Snape had secretly given him at the library. He then performed a simple Memory Charm that made them forget about this incident and went along his own way. Lavender and Parviti were lucky that Professor Flitwick was on his way to the kitchens for another goblet of Hot Chocolate, and found them stunned, else they probably would still be out cold on the stone floor.

The Granger Mudblood, Scar-head and Weasel all thought that he was stupid, like Goyle and Crabbe. He wasn't actually, though he didn't really study hard, he had a talent in performing spells and charms and brewing potions that was beneficial for him. Memory Charm? Pft, he mastered that in third year. Polyjuice potion? Another easy potion to brew, he successfully brewed that in fourth year.

Just by looking and sniffing at the contents of the potion Snape had smuggled to him, he identified what it was straight away. It was a potion that set the biological alarm inside the drinker at a specified time. The drinker would wake up at that time, and the potion, depending on the ingredients added and the doses, would influence the drinker to do things that the drinker would normally not do. Things such as quidditch for Hermione, for example. It was a potion that would ensure that from the time the alarm was set off to whenever the antidote was drank, the drinker would keep doing the same thing over and over again.

This meant Hermione would keep on flying on the broomstick until somebody force fed her the antidote.

Oh the joy in stopping Hermione from completing the dare.

* * *

Harry and Ron dashed after Hermione, not caring whether the teachers saw them breaking the rules. In fact, they wished that a teacher spotted them, maybe they can explain why Hermione was now flying on a broomstick and circling the castle at midnight.

They got what they wished for, but not in the way they wanted. They'd bumped into the worst teacher that they could possibly meet.

Severus Snape.

"Well, well, well." Snape said, "how unfortunate that I catch you two in your nightly prowling? Tell me Potter, is breaking the rules a habit of yours?"

"Sir," Harry said pleadingly, "It's Hermione, she needs help."

Snape turned to see Hermione wave at him outside the window, riding the broom as if she was a natural.

"She looks perfectly fine to me," Snape smirked. "Fifty points from Gryffindor, Potter and Weasley, for being out of bed after lights out."

He turned and gestured for them to re-enter the Gryffindor Common Room with a mocking smile, leaving Harry and Ron with no choice but to obey silently. It was fruitless to get Snape to help Hermione, he was probably in this too.

Snape waited until the Fat Lady's portrait swung shut before issuing strict orders to the Fat Lady to not let anyone in or out tonight.

Then, with an uncharacteristic grin, he stalked down the hallway.

* * *

Morning came, and people had ditched their breakfast in order to capture Hermione in one of her most glorious moments: riding the broom with apparent ease. Most of the students present were Slytherins, no doubt Malfoy had told them to come to breakfast early to see the show.

Cameras flashed eagerly; and Hermione gave a whoop as she passed the Great Hall the fifth time since breakfast started. Some of the teachers who had came to breakfast early, namely Hagrid and Dumbledore, all waved merrily back each time Hermione went past them.

Professor McGonagall bustled in, holding a cloak. It took her a few seconds to register that yes, it was Hermione Granger from Gryffindor, the student who cared about school more than anything else was flying at top speed around the castle, whooping and screaming like a maniac.

Pushing the students to one side, Professor dumped her cloak in somebody's arms and magnified her voice with her wand.

"HERMIONE GRANGER, COME DOWN HERE AT ONCE!" the professor's voice was a hundred times louder than normal, and everyone (except for Dumbledore and Hagrid) immediately grimaced and stuffed their fingers in their ears.

"But I can't professor." Hermione hollered back. "I don't know how to stop and land. I must keep going." She was still talking in a monotone, which made McGonagall frown.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T?"

"I don't know. I must keep going."

"Er-professor?" Someone piped up from behind the steaming professor.

McGonagall whipped around, her nostrils flaring. "Yes Miss Brown?" She asked, her voice returning to normal.

"Er, Hermione drank a Sleeping Draught meant for trolls yesterday," Lavender confessed, "that's what the bottle label said, but Madam Pomfrey just told me that the colour of the Sleeping Drought is supposed to be brown, not-"

"-red, am I correct?" McGonagall gave a small sigh. "Miss Granger must have taken the potion I asked Severus to brew for me when I have trouble getting up in the morning. I should never have-never mind, I know why he did it."

McGonagall sighed again. "I have an antidote back in my classroom."

"I'll go get it professor," Parviti offered, feeling guilty of how things turned out with Hermione.

"No, don't worry," McGonagall informed her, "I'll summon it-it's easier." True enough, several seconds later, the small vial carrying the precious antidote came flying into her outstretched hand.

"The problem is," she murmured, "how can I get Granger to drink this while she's flying?"

She turned around thoughtfully, looking at the students. Or more specifically, she looked at the Slytherin table where most of the students were. Her eyes fell on Malfoy.

"Malfoy," she barked, "you are a seeker for your team, isn't that right?"

Malfoy nodded, and then shook his head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She demanded, "And don't lie to me."

"Yes, Professor," Malfoy sighed, "I'm the seeker."

"Good. No other suitable quidditch players have arrived for breakfast yet. I would have rather Potter to do it, but no doubt he's still asleep at seven in the weekend. Malfoy, get your broom immediately, NOW." The teacher shouted the last bit, staring at Malfoy.

Malfoy stood up really slowly, a plan already forming in his head. He'll fly up there, give Hermione the antidote, but he'll also slip her another one where she just won't be able to close her eyes in twenty-four hours.

"NOW!" McGonagall said, pointing at the door, "Don't think that I don't know what you did, Malfoy." She warned, walking to the teacher's table and sitting down, with the student who carried her cloak following her. "Ah, sorry Perkins," she apologised, "I forgot about that, give Malfoy the antidote, won't you? Thanks."

Malfoy shuffled his feet looking every bit the reluctant Slytherin he was supposed to be, but really, he was grinning inside. It was a perfect chance to give Hermione the next potion he had stolen from Snape's collection. He positively snatched the antidote from the boy's hands in his eagerness to execute his plan.

Outside the Great Hall, he summoned his broom and the potion and headed out the entrance doors, where he kicked off and waited in mid air, but who knew immediately came crashing into him?

* * *

Hermione found herself waking up at the Hospital Wing, groaning, she struggled to sit up. Every inch of her body was aching, and- Merlin's Beard! Wasn't that the potion for mending bones?

Another groan from beside her found Malfoy, who was sitting up in his bed too, rubbing his eyes.

Their eyes met each other and they both scowled.

"What in God's name happened?" Hermione demanded, pointing an accusingly finger at him.

"You came crashing into me!" Malfoy answered back, grumbling. "Filthy Mudblood," he added underneath his breath. "And Madam Pomfrey told you to drink up that potion." He nodded to the potion that Hermione had seen earlier.

"No," Hermione folded her arms, her eyes narrowing at him. "You spiked it with something, I can see that you're hiding an empty flask underneath your covers."

Malfoy flushed as he was found out, he tossed the flask at Hermione, who caught it easily. "Kaelope's Serum," she sniffed at the flask, nodding approvingly, "you brewed it? It's a really difficult potion to make."

"No," Malfoy answered shortly, "Snape made it. I stole it."

Hermione gave him the upmost disgusted look. "You stole it." She repeated. "How despicable."

"What a filthy hypocrite!" Malfoy exclaimed, "you stole boomslang skin and other stuff from Snape in second year! Or don't you remember your little 'confession' last night?"

Hermione blushed, and decided not to say anything. Instead, she got out of bed.

"What are you doing?" Malfoy asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm going, I can't stand being alone with you," Hermione shot back.

"Well then, hurry up. You're using up my oxygen."

"Excuse me?" Hermione snapped, "YOUR oxygen?"

"Yes. I have the receipt for it, you want to see it?" Malfoy pretended to check the pockets of his hospital robes. "Must have left in at home, at Malfoy MANOR," he said, emphasising the word Manor.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "too bad," she retorted, "living at that dreadful stuck-up place must have been horrible. Oh wait, who am I kidding? You're stuck up and horrible, of course you love to live there."

She slammed the door behind her.

Malfoy looked at the door and got up too. "Filthy, poor, Granger," he muttered. "How can I-? What the hell was Goyle thinking?"

* * *

"It's not going to work if you go to sleep now," Harry said, watching Hermione pace around.

"I know that," Hermione said, "I'm just thinking of what the best thing to do now is."

"But you're ruined!" Ron moaned, "You didn't commit Sloth!"

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, amazed, "just because I didn't sleep in doesn't mean I fail!"

"Oh." Ron said, settling down, propping his feet up onto a stack of books. "Okay then."

Hermione's gaze fell upon the books. "I've got it." She grinned.

* * *

Malfoy was in the library again, with various spell books and potions books laid out in front of him as he took down notes on which hairstyle Ron would look worst in, and whether he should replace the Weasel's freckles with splattergroit.

Somebody sat down in front of him. He looked up and grumbled.

"You think you've won because I didn't sleep in, right?" Hermione said, a weird smile playing on her face.

Malfoy wisely chose not to answer. But nevertheless a smirk was forming as he thought about winning the money back.

"Miss Granger!" Professor McGonagall came bustling in. "I thought I told you to hand in that essay today, after lunch?"

"Oh I know that, professor," Hermione yawned, "I just couldn't be bothered doing it."

"Miss Granger!" the teacher exclaimed, "How lazy of you!"

"Well, I have my ups and downs, and TODAY," Hermione emphasised, "is one of my downs. I'll do that essay later, professor, I'm too lazy to do it now."

Malfoy watched this conversation with his mouth open. It never occurred to him that Sloth also meant 'laziness'. He had been focusing too much on the 'sleeping in and getting up too late and not doing anything else' part.

Damn know-it-all, he groaned. When could he ever win against her? Oh wait, back to imagining Ron Weasley as a foul smelling, plagued freak. That calmed him down.

"Miss Granger!" Professor Flitwick squeaked from behind the two arguing witches. "Please give these to Mr Potter and Weasley please!"

Hermione stopped and looked down at the professor, who was holding a box. "No. I'm too LAZY to." Hermione said, stretching out and propping her feet up so that it was a few inches from Malfoy's face.

"I'm going to take a nap," she said meaningfully, "I'm just too lazy to do anything else."

"You're such a Sloth," Professor McGonagall complained, sneaking a look at Professor Flitwick who was barely containing a straight face. "Hermione Granger's a sloth, isn't she?"

"Why, of course she is!" Professor Flitwick said, giving a weird squeaky laugh.

"Did you hear that Mr Potter and Weasley?" McGonagall barked.

Ron snapped a shot of Hermione with her feet on the table (he made sure to catch Malfoy's disgusted face in it) and the two professors shaking the essay and the box at her.

"I think I've got it, professor," Ron said. Harry couldn't help but make a big show of crossing out 'SLOTH' in bright red ink in front of Malfoy's steaming face.

"That's not fair!" he complained, "Professors, you helped her! That's cheating!"

"If we're cheating, Malfoy, then what was that episode about the potions that seem to appear out of nowhere these days, care to explain those?"

"Er-"

"I thought not."

The two professors turned away, but not before a beaming Flitwick gave them the box.

Malfoy immediately snatched it from Hermione, who was just about to open it. "It's mine now."

Hermione scowled. "What use do you have of S.P.E.W badges?" she asked furiously. "Give them back."

"SPEW?" Malfoy laughed, "spew? Why, are you going to be puking in envy tomorrow?"

"S.P.E.W!" Hermione said hotly. "Stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare!"

"Whatever," Malfoy threw one at her, "Here, a Christmas present. I'm going to keep the rest. Thanks for giving me this, Granger, now I can carve the words 'Granger Sucks' on it."

Harry attempted to make a swipe at it, but was caught by Madam Pince saw him at it and chased him out of the library. "Despoiled, foul boy," she muttered, "How dare he attempt to fight in my library?"

Draco smirked. "What about you, Weasel? Aren't you going to join Pothead?"

Ron scowled, but got up. "If you do anything to Hermione..." he threatened as he retreated.

Hermione smiled at Malfoy. "Just so you know," she said, "those badges have been cursed. I got Professor Flitwick to try and see if there's a charm or something on it, but he says he can't get rid of it."

Malfoy, horror struck, threw the box of badges down. Hermione laughed at the sight. She glanced at the books he'd been reading. "Planning to curse me next?" she asked scathingly, "It'd never work, I know a few good ones up my sleeve."

Malfoy just looked at her. "I'd like to see you try," he sneered, "you wouldn't last five SECONDS if you duelled with me."

"Oh really?" Hermione asked sceptically. "How would you know?"

"I can prove it, right now." Malfoy reached for his wand but found it twirled in Hermione's fingers.

"What would you do without your wand, Malfoy?" She taunted, "poor widdle wizard without his wand? Aww..."

Malfoy flushed. Hermione was strange today, alright. She fleetingly reminded him of Bellatrix with her baby voice and taunting words.

"I'd punch you." He threatened, clenching his fist and showing it to her.

"But you won't." Hermione replied at once. "Because then you'd go under history as the cowardly Slytherin who punched a girl just because he couldn't get his wand back."

True.

Damn.

* * *

"Look at him!" Pansy hissed, furious.

She was with Blaise, Nott, Goyle and Crabbe, all of them were looking at Hermione and Draco from behind a shelf of books.

"He's totally flirting with her!"

"No, he's not." Blaise yawned. "He just treats her that way, remember?"

"Yeah, but he doesn't tease, bully or talk like that to anyone else!" Pansy complained. "He doesn't even talk to ME much, and look at him now, warming up to that filthy Mudblood."

"You call threatening her 'warming up'?" Nott said, raising his eyebrows, "you're one sadistic witch, Pansy."

"I think he fancies her." Goyle said, repeating what he said yesterday. Blaise laughed outwardly at the outrageous statement, Nott just stared disbelievingly at Goyle.

"Goyle, honestly? You get T's in all your subjects, that means you're a Troll, geddit?" Nott told him, "And Trolls are stupid. Which means that your 'Draco fancies Granger' statement is a completely stupid and idiotic thing to say."

But Pansy, who had saw the way Malfoy echo those words last night, agreed with Goyle. "Goyle may be slow in class, but I think he's got a point here."

"I agree with Goyle," Crabbe grunted. "Draco's never acted that way to us before."

"Exactly!" Pansy threw up her hands, "That mudblood Granger is stealing him away from me! Look at the way he treats her differently to me! Look at the way he acts so immature in front of her!"

Blaise and Nott looked at each other and shrugged. "We still think you're wrong," Blaise said. "But if you're so sure, then why don't you do something to win him back?"

Pansy smiled. "I'd do just that."


	5. Chapter 5: Envy

**A/N: Thanks to all of those that reviewed! I'm really glad that you guys make an effort to review. It makes me happy.  
Please review! Not just put this story on alert or favourite it! (though that makes me happy too-just not as much as reviews.) **

**Tomorrow's chapter may be one day late, I'm sorry for the inconvience. It's because school's started and it's my final year so I have to place school first-not that I want to. **

**Chapter five: Envy**

Ron headed towards the library door, where he saw Harry was poking his head around and nervously ducking out of sight when Madam Pince glared at him.

But before he reached the door, a few snippets of a very interesting conversation floated to his ears.

"...Draco fancies....stupid...Goyle...Draco's never..." Ron itched to know the full length of what Pansy had to say. If it was something regarding Malfoy doing something stupid, he HAD to hear it.

He edged towards the shelf where Pansy, Nott, Blaise, Goyle and Crabbe were spying on Malfoy and Hermione, managing to be able to be not too close for him to be noticed, but not too far away so he could continue to eavesdrop on their conversation.

What he heard next made him gasp and splutter in horror, amusement and surprise.

"Exactly! That mudblood Granger is stealing him away from me! Look at the way he treats her differently to me! Look at the way he acts so immature in front of her!" Ron heard Pansy exclaim.

This was some juicy piece of information. When did Malfoy fancy Hermione? Ron was baffled, but he was strangely pleased about this bombshell. If Malfoy fancied Hermione, but Hermione absolutely despised Malfoy, things could turn out to be _very _amusing indeed.

"Ron!" Harry hissed, "What're you doing?"

Ron shrugged and joined his friend who was giving him curious looks. "I'll tell you later," Ron muttered, "When Hermione comes out."

Hermione seemed to have felt Ron's urgency for her to join them, so she left Malfoy thinking up his next so-called witty comeback and walked briskly (she daren't run- the librarian was watching her) outside.

"What's wrong?" She asked, looking at Harry's puzzled face and Ron's triumphant one.

"Let's go to the dormitories," Ron suggested. "Oh, this is going to be awesome!"

Casting each other half-worried and half-enthusiastic looks, Harry and Hermione followed Ron, who was positively skipping all throughout the way to the tower.

* * *

"Okay, tell," Hermione said impatiently, sitting down at one of the tables with Ron and Harry across her.

"Well... Pansy and Malfoy's group of thugs were in the library too-"

"Crabbe and Goyle were in the _library?_" Harry wondered, "They can _read?"_

"Of course not," Hermione snapped, "Continue Ron, please. And Harry, _please _don't butt in."

"Er, where was I? Oh yeah, they said that Malfoy...fancied someone." Ron grinned.

Hermione looked at Harry, neither of them surprised. "Duh," Harry sighed, "Pansy that cow of course."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, "she's always fawning over him and sitting in his lap." She informed Ron.

"No!" Ron said exasperatedly, "Not Pansy! You!"

"Me?" Harry was aghast. "Malfoy's GAY? Well you can tell him sorry, but I don't swing that way."

Hermione giggled, "That explains the reason he picks on you, Harry," she reasoned, "people always tease the people they like."

Ron nearly hit himself on the forehead at their stupidity. "No! Not Harry! Hermione, Draco Malfoy likes YOU!"

Hermione and Harry froze.

"Er, what?" Hermione asked, her voice suddenly an octave higher. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I heard it from Pansy's mouth. I swear."

Harry sat back in the wooden chair, stunned to silence.

"You heard it from Pansy's mouth, not Malfoy's. And we all know what a liar Pansy is," Hermione criticised. "I'm sure she's got it all wrong."

"No, actually," Harry said thoughtfully, "come to think about it, he's actually teased Hermione a lot more than he's teased Ron or I."

"But-but- that's-!" Hermione spluttered, "Why would he call me all those names and bully me like that? ... oh. Right." She thought back to what she said just a few seconds ago. "Malfoy teases me the most. Oh Merlin." She sighed. "Why can't I get someone who's nice?"

"Vicky wasn't nice?" Ron asked, suddenly interested.

Hermione shot him a look. "He WAS nice. Unlike Malfoy, or you for that matter. Ron, do YOU like me?"

"Of course not!" Ron said quickly. "I like that half-Veela girl!"

Hermione smirked, "yeah, good luck with that one."

Ron chose to turn a deaf ear at her comment.

"So what were you getting so excited about?" Harry asked Ron. "Why's Malfoy fancying Hermione so great?"

"Well..." Ron leant forward. "I think Pansy is planning to win Malfoy back, which means _she _will be doubling her efforts to get his attention. Hermione's next sin is Envy right? So tomorrow, when Pansy is flaunting about, Hermione can pretend to get really jealous. And if Malfoy thinks Hermione fancies him back, he's bound to make a move, right?"

"Er, what kind of move?" Harry asked, somehow wondering if this plan of Ron's was a good thing or not.

"I dunno, but if he thinks Hermione likes him back, maybe he'll call off his stupid club thingy or not! It's perfect!"

"Ron," Harry warned, "I don't think-"

"What a brilliant idea, Ron!" Hermione beamed. "It's perfect!"

"What?" Harry exclaimed. "You'd actually agree to do this?"

"Why, of course I do. My next sin after tomorrow will be Greed, isn't that right? Keeping up my act, I'll pretend to be really Greedy-with boys. That'll confuse Malfoy, right? And possibly make him back away from me, because I certainly don't want him making a move on me."

Harry and Hermione grimaced at that thought, whereas Ron smirked at the image. "He'll probably do something really stupid," Ron said, "like give her a bunch of roses."

Hermione stared at Ron. "Giving a bouquet of roses to the girl he likes isn't a stupid thing to do, Ron."

"Oh. I thought you hated flowers."

"Nearly all girls like flowers," Hermione informed him. "Though of course, rather than give me a bouquet of roses that are nothing good but to look at, I'd much rather something more useful. But it's the thought that counts."

"Anyway," Harry said pointedly, "Carry on Hermione, you were saying?"

"Well, after I become 'greedy' with boys, I'll have to commit Pride-"

"Which means you will dump all the guys and leave Malfoy, but pretend you still like him while keeping away from him, making it seem like you being too proud to confess to him!" Harry caught on with the plan. "That's excellent!"

"And.. er, the last sin..." Hermione didn't want to say it.

"Lust," Ron said nodding, "It'll fit in. It is brilliant! And by the end of all this, you'll tell him that it was just a mistaken feeling and Malfoy will be so confused and hurt that he wouldn't dare come near us again! Perfect!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione grinned at each other. Ahh, sweet revenge. What a nice, delicious feeling it was.

The next day finally rolled around, with the three friends rising up bright and early to start making plans on exactly how Hermione was going to act around Malfoy to make him fall for the act.

"I don't want to be a Pansy," Hermione said, shuddering, "I want to seem like I'm envious of Pansy for grabbing all of Malfoy's attention, but I don't want to go out of character and become a clingy, needy girl."

"I guess you'll have to do things in a really subtle way," Harry murmured thoughtfully, "Malfoy's bound to get sick of Pansy at some point, if she doubles what she normally does. You'll have to seem like the polar opposite to Pansy. Kind, a bit shy, independent...intelligent, what else is Pansy not like?"

"Human." Ron suggested, "She's a total cow. A _whiny_ cow. I think Hermione should just be herself, since Malfoy fancies her already, but bring it up a notch, say, staring at him until he looks at you, then blushing and looking away. Or 'accidentally' trip up and fall onto Malfoy, you know, corny stuff like that."

Hermione grimaced. "Those are good ideas, unfortunately, Ron. But I'm the one who has to do it. How am I supposed to pretend to like him when I absolutely _loath_ him?"

"Think about the results," Ron said cheerfully, "think about his stupid, poor, confused face at the end of it and you'll do it just fine."

Hermione sighed. "I hope we're not going overhead with this," she said worriedly. "To be honest, Malfoy's not such a bad person. I don't want to , y'know, ruin him or something."

Harry and Ron laughed. "Don't worry, Hermione, he's _already_ ruined." Ron said nastily.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "we'll have to check our schedules today and make sure Malfoy is always within sight."

"Except during classes," Hermione immediately said. "He doesn't take Ancient Runes or Arithmancy. He's only got Potions and Defence with me today."

"Can't you, like, be late to class or something?" Harry suggested, "Linger around his class and have a lame excuse for the teacher to make it seem like you're stalking him?"

"Wouldn't he be freaked out instead?" Hermione wondered.

"No. He's such an attention-seeking git," Ron said confidently, "He'll love the attention."

"C'mon, let's go to breakfast now." Harry said, glancing at the clock.

"I'll go down to the dungeons," Hermione said. "Malfoy normally goes to breakfast later. I'll go there, look at him come out of his common room, squeal, bump into someone while looking at him, then run to the Great Hall."

"Sounds like you've got this all planned out," Ron grinned.

"Nothing for a bit of fun," Hermione laughed. "Though I hope I don't go too far and end up totally ruining him."

* * *

Malfoy went to breakfast alone, trying to shake Pansy off him. He was sick of Pansy and her insistent need for his attention. He liked the way she always followed him around and everything, but that was in the past. Pansy had officially overstepped this time.

The Slytherin stone wall opened and he stepped out, yawning profusely.

Some girl in front of him squealed at the sight of him and ran away. Malfoy rolled his eyes. Not another Slytherin clingy girl, he prayed. Not a Pansy second.

But as the girl crashed into somebody in front of her and fell down, he recognised the brown bushy hair.

Merlin's Pants! Wasn't that Granger? Mudblood Granger?

He stared as she straightened herself, casted him a frightened but dreamy look at him and dashed up the steps.

It couldn't be...?

No, he laughed to himself. It's probably for the dare or something, or that she's playing with his mind.

But still, that encounter left him very confused.

* * *

Hermione smiled as she bounded up the steps. Her plan had worked! Draco Malfoy was no doubt interested as to what she was doing. But he wasn't that gullible, she'll have to work on him all throughout the day until somebody (preferably Pansy herself), yelled out that Hermione was jealous, and bingo! Another sin committed!

"Well?" Ron asked as she slid down onto the bench beside him, "did it work? Did he see you?"

Harry watched as Malfoy walked into the Great Hall, his eyes never leaving Hermione even though Pansy had her arm around him.

"I think it did," Harry said slowly. "Hurry Hermione! Look at him and blush!"

Hermione tried to appear as subtle as she could. She raised her head and stared (hopefully, with a longing expression) at Malfoy as he sat down at the Slytherin table. As soon as his cold grey eyes looked up at her, and their eyes met, Hermione blushed (courtesy of a handy blusher spell Ginny had taught her).

"Now look down!" Harry hissed.

Hermione ducked her head, and turned to Ron, the blush still prominent on her face. "Well?" She said, "did the blusher spell work?"

Ron turned to look at Malfoy too, who was still watching Hermione. He scowled at Malfoy before turning back, a puzzled but angry expression on his face.

"Why Hermione?" He moaned, "anybody but that-" he glared at Malfoy again, "ferret!"

Hermione was confused. "Wha-?"

"Play along!" Harry insisted. "Malfoy would think that we noticed that you like him, so naturally Ron has to act all angry and offended."

"Well, what do I do?" Hermione whispered worriedly.

"Try, er, reasoning with Ron or something. Tell him about how important studying is."

Hermione didn't get it, but she didn't mind getting an excuse to lecture Ron about his studying, or lack thereof.

"You really should be concentrating on your studies more often," Hermione said. "And not just on Defence Against the Dark Arts, but even Potions as well. If you want to be an auror, you need to do well in Potions, or else you won't be accepted. And you really should consider taking Muggle Studies instead of Astronomy, you really should know how to use a telephone- yes Ron, it's called a telephone, not a fellytone. And I know History of Magic is boring to you, but, please, at least make an effort to copy down notes and complete the assignments Professor Binns gives us. And when I say I'll check your essays, I don't mean helping you to write them. You'll write them yourself. And don't use one of Fred and George's spell-checking quill please, those things wear off pretty fast and although they are useful in some cases, they get similar sounding words mixed up. Like see and sea, or be and bee-"

"-I think that's enough now," Ron butted in. "I get it. Harry, what the hell did you want? You know Hermione won't shut up about studying."

"I wanted her to seem like she was arguing with you about Malfoy. If she likes him, but we aren't supportive of this, er, relationship, wouldn't Hermione start justifying why and what she likes about him?"

Hermione was stunned at Harry's insight. "That's really-" she started.

"Hey Hermione!" Fred and George chorused, suddenly appearing behind them. As usual, the twins bent down and stole a piece of toast each from Hermione's plate, Ron's pancakes and Harry's bacon.

"It's envy today," George reminded her. "What're you going to be envious about?"

Hermione glanced at Harry and Ron, not sure whether to fill in the twins or not with the plan. Ron coughed a 'no'.

"Well, er, I'm not sure, exactly." Hermione stammered.

"Well, you can be jealous of my awesome invention!" Fred said.

"MY invention," George corrected.

Hermione took the opportunity to take another look at Malfoy. Hopefully it'd seem like the twins were interrogating her on who she liked, and she would look at Malfoy sub-consciously. Yup, he's eyes were still on her.

"What?" Hermione said irritably, turning back, "is it another one of your rule-bending merchandise?"

Fred and George pretended to look offended. "No! We respect the rules very much!" They exclaimed, unconvincingly.

Hermione sighed. "I give up. What is it?"

"A Potion." Fred said mysteriously.

"A potion which will help YOU." George continued.

"We know you'll have a hard time with the last sin, so George and I decided to create something that would make you act like you're in love. Y'know, gooey-eyed, drooling, all the good stuff."

"Though there are side-effects we're trying to get rid of," George added. "Stuff like breaking out in rashes and stinking of blue cheese, but those are just minor problems. We've given it to Ginny, apparently she wants the rashes and the smell to repulse that boyfriend of hers."

"That's, er, nice of her." Hermione said uncertainly. "Well, er-" Another glance at the Slytherin table saw that Malfoy was rising to leave. "I've got to go! Thanks for the potion, just owl it to me or something."

"Or something," Fred and George agreed. "We could send it with two Nifflers."

* * *

Pansy huffed at the way Hermione had looked at Malfoy. There was no doubt, Hermione fancied Draco too. HER Draco! And Hermione was planning to steal him away! Unforgivable.

Pansy followed after Draco, slinging her arm around him, though he tried to shake it off.

"Aw... Draco," Pansy cooed, "don't do that."

"I can do whatever I want, thanks," Malfoy retorted angrily. "Why won't you leave me alone?"

"Because," Pansy emphasised, "I like you. You like me. Simple."

Malfoy grunted. He sure as hell didn't like Pansy, but having a girlfriend (albeit one that he resented) was better than none, so he decided to play along with Pansy's little dream.

Malfoy was about 10 to 15 percent sure that Hermione fancied him. That would explain the weird Bellatrix-like talking in the library yesterday (he had a suspicion that she was flirting with him). If that was true...

He smiled, another plan forming in his head.

He'll continue with his plan of making Ron Weasel as repulsive as possible, to make Hermione be put off and not be able to commit Lust. But Malfoy would jump in between them, be the perfect boyfriend that Granger always wanted, and just before he recognised the symptoms of lust, he'll dump her and confuse her so bad, she won't be able to commit Lust.

Besides, if Hermione liked him, and he pretended to like her, no girl would ever take along her two male best friends along on a date. And because the judges were Harry and Ron, even if Hermione (he shuddered at the thought) actually lusted after him (gag) they wouldn't be there to witness it. When they next see Hermione, she'll be crying and whining and whatever it was that girls do when they get dumped.

Perfect.

He tightened his grip around Pansy, Hermione obviously wanted him and Pansy to break up. But if the guy was hard to get, it'll make her like him even more and then he'll be able to execute his attention. Being somebody else's boyfriend was an added bonus, poor Pansy would just have to be his pawn for now.

Get your tissues ready, Malfoy smirked. You'll be needing them, Granger.

* * *

Hermione followed Draco all the way to his first period class, which was Transfiguration. She made sure to stay out of sight until Malfoy was seated. Harry and Ron were told not to come, or else Malfoy would become suspicious and think that it was part of a plan. Which it was.

Meanwhile, in the classroom, Malfoy was forcing himself not to slap Pansy away. He wished to; Pansy was probably more annoying than one of those buzzing flies that spread germs everywhere and make your food mouldy. If somebody invented a girlfriend fly swatter, he would be first in line to buy it.

Pansy seemed to get the impression that Malfoy was losing interest. She was wrong, Malfoy was never interested in her THAT way to start off with, so he couldn't be losing interest in her if there were none to begin with. The only reason Malfoy grudgingly accepted her as his 'official' girlfriend was that other students envied him for having her, and Malfoy loved being the object of jealousy.

She was making him sick with her incessant cooing, and the fact that her gooey-eyes that never seemed to leave him. Before she would force them to hold hands, but now her arm was around his waist every second of the day, getting tighter by the second. She used to like him slouch down a little so that she could play with his hair, but now, even that form of torment wasn't enough.

Pansy produced a comb out of nowhere and settled down to de-gelling and ruffling his hair up. The comb was obviously not made for boys; the hair spray that oozed out of it smelled of tropical bananas and 'delicious strawberry smoothie' flavours. What was delicious about the smell, Malfoy sure couldn't figure it out. If it wasn't that he saw Hermione lurking about outside, he would definitely have sprung away and snapped that comb in two.

Pansy was a horrible hair-stylist. For some reason, she thought that a mo hawk would look 'just ravishing' on him, and had used that horrible comb to gather up his hair to the middle and spike it up.

He looked like as if he had one of those muggle antennas sticking out of his head.

Goyle and Crabbe were guffawing away like the two gorillas they looked like. Malfoy had a suspicion that they knew this was coming, he'll get them someday.

Pansy finally put away that dreaded comb of hers. But then she looked at Malfoy and insisted that they match up their uniforms so they look more like a 'real' couple. Pansy had her school robes loosened a little so that a fair amount of skin was showing. Bending over, Pansy tugged at Malfoy's robes too.

This was too much.

"For God's sake Pansy!" Malfoy shouted, "Can't you just leave my clothes alone? Nobody wants to look like a slut like you!"

Whoops. It seemed poor little Pansy couldn't take the shouting. Tears filled up in her eyes and she started hiccupping.

Ugh.

"I-hic, just wanted hic, us, hic, to look nice! Don't, hic, you want to look, hic nice for _me_?" Pansy whispered, gazing up at him.

Malfoy was about to retort and say that no, he didn't want to look nice for a girl that had a face like a pug dog, but caught sight of Hermione blushing at him from outside.

"Of course, Pansy. I'm sorry, forget about what I said before." Malfoy sat back down, but pulled his robes together. "Just... let me deal with my own clothes, okay?"

"Okay," Pansy said, smiling.

It was lucky that Malfoy's back was towards Hermione, because she rolled her eyes at the scene. If Malfoy was a nicer person and not such a stuck-up, she would have pitied him for having to deal with such an annoying girlfriend.

"Miss Granger, what are you doing here?" McGongall's stern voice came from behind her.

Hermione took a step back, so she was inside the classroom and in plain view. Hopefully, the professor's voice had captured Malfoy's attention.

"I was just, er, looking for my quill professor," Hermione lied unconvincingly.

McGonagall harrumphed. "Well go in there and find it, though I very much doubt it's in there."

Hermione made the extra effort to turn and gaze at Malfoy. She made a terrified squeak when their eyes met and she ducked her head. "I'll... find it later," Hermione mumbled, casting the blusher spell.

"Are you okay?" The professor stared down at Hermione. "Your cheeks are red, do you have a fever?"

"No!" Squeaked Hermione, "I, er, best to go on my own way now. See you later Professor!"

And then she dashed down the corridor, hoping her little play convinced Malfoy that she was totally in love with him.

It worked.

* * *

Harry and Ron were positively beaming when a flushed Hermione came tearing into the classroom just as the final bell rang.

"So?" Ron asked eagerly, "did it work?"

Hermione shrugged, "I sure hope so. Squealing at the mere sight of him and casting all those blusher spells and thinking up movements is extremely tiring."

"Remember Hermione, think of the results. The _results_," Ron emphasised.

Harry undid the blusher spell on Hermione, "good thing Ginny knew about this spell, it wouldn't be half as convincing without it."

But Ron wasn't impressed, "Ginny shouldn't be going around and learning make-up spells," he said angrily, "she's too young to be doing all that!"

"She's a year younger than you," Hermione reminded him, "most girls her age already have had a boyfriend or two."

"She isn't _most girls_," Ron shot back, "she's my little sister."

Harry rolled his eyes and Hermione muttered 'overprotective' under her breath, which, luckily, Ron didn't hear.

"So what's next?" Harry asked, looking from Ron to Hermione. "I think this is enough of convincing Malfoy you like him, I think it's time to make it seem like you hate Pansy because she's got Malfoy."

Hermione smiled, "that's easy, I already hate her. I'll just glare at her more often than usual."

"No," Harry said thoughtfully, "glaring isn't enough. You'll need a more direct approach."

Hermione gaped, "what? Let me remind you that I am definitely not doing anything that goes against my morals," Hermione warned him.

"Why don't you have like, a girl-to-girl chat with Pansy?" Suggested Ron, "tell her to lay off him or something."

"That's not what I would do," Hermione frowned, "Pansy knows that. I think I'll remind Pansy to tell Malfoy to do his homework or something, then tell her how amazing they look together as a couple, and I'd say something along the lines of 'I wish I was you.'"

"Isn't that laying it a bit too thick?" Ron asked, "Since when do you admire Pansy?"

"Pansy is exactly like Malfoy," Harry said, "which means she'll soak anything up."

"And I know Pansy will say something nasty back to me, and then I'll get mad at her. Hopefully, I'll get her so furious, she'll go and tell what I said to Malfoy. Then you two tag along behind Malfoy until he or Pansy or whoever that hears me say that I'm just jealous of her. Then-"

"Voila! Another sin down!" Ron cheered.

Harry sniggered. "Voila?" he asked. "Have you been practicing your French or something?"

Ron flushed. "No, what would I do with knowing French?" he asked, looking away.

Hermione had a suspicion it had to do a lot with a part-veela girl they met in Fourth year.

* * *

Malfoy kept having the oddest sensation of someone staring at him. Turning around in his seat in Potions, he found Hermione blushing and looking down as soon as his eyes fell on her.

Aha! He smirked, Hermione Granger likes me! The plan is going perfectly without me doing anything at all. It must be my natural charms, he thought, nodding to himself.

He had decided to change some things about how he talked and acted with Hermione in Transfiguration, for one, he'll call her by her first name. That'd confuse her and trick her into thinking he liked her back. Then he'll offer to take her books to class (she had tons of them) and send small anonymous (but still obviously from him) gifts to her every morning. He knew she hated expensive, worthless things.

The first thing he'll have to do when she becomes closer to him is to steal that diamond necklace he had given to her days ago. It just wouldn't do if she used it to feel cheerful and stress free after he dumped her.

He'll have to start the nice things tomorrow, today would be focusing on making Hermione like him even more.

And what better way to do that than act graciously and kind to his girlfriend who annoys the hell out of everyone? It'd show how much patience he's got.

The perfect opportunity was when Pansy freaked out at the sight of beheading worms. Malfoy immediately offered his own nicely cut ones and chopped her ones for himself. Pansy smiled at him-Malfoy tried not to gag.

He had positioned himself so that whatever thing he did, no matter how small the gesture was, Hermione would have the full view.

Next, when Pansy complained about how low the seats were, and how her legs were cramping, Malfoy, without hesitation, told Pansy that she was welcome to sit in his lap if she wanted. Pansy did just that, fully convinced that Draco Malfoy really loved her after all.

But Hermione only saw these not-so-subtle gestures as a sign that Malfoy fancied her and wanted to show her how much of a perfect boyfriend he would be. She tried her best to look as mesmerised and stunned at Malfoy's thoughtfulness as possible.

At a prompt by Harry, Hermione let out a longing sigh, which was loud enough for Pansy and Malfoy to her. Pansy turned around and glared at Hermione, but Malfoy pretended not to hear. Inside though, he was smirking away at how successful his plan was turning out.

Ron was the next to nudge Hermione. He saw that Malfoy was skinning in the wrong direction, Ron whispered to Hermione that she should pull Pansy aside now, as she had the perfect excuse.

Hermione, rather reluctantly, got up from her seat and tapped Pansy on her shoulder. "Can I please talk to you?" Hermione asked, blushing when Malfoy looked confusedly at the two (courtesy of the blusher spell-again).

Pansy grumbled, and turned her back to Hermione. "No. I don't talk with mudbloods."

Malfoy scowled at Pansy, "you know it's not nice to call Hermione mudblood." He lectured, enjoying the confused expression Hermione bore at his words. "C'mon, I'm sure whatever she says will prove to be enter-I mean, interesting."

Pansy sighed, but didn't dare refuse Malfoy's oh-so-subtle orders. "Fine," Pansy said, getting up from Malfoy's lap.

The two girls walked to the back of the class, hidden behind the fog the brewing potions was causing.

"What?" Pansy snapped, studying her fingernails.

"Well... Can you please tell Draco that he's skinning the wrong way?" Hermione asked.

"Uh..what?"

"He's skinning-"

"I heard what you said, but why the hell would you care?"

"I just-I don't know. Thought that potions was one of Draco's favourite subject, it'd be a pity if he failed."

"That's Malfoy to you," Pansy snarled, "Don't you dare call him 'Draco'."

"That's not fair!" Hermione said angrily, "I can call him whatever I like!"

"Well I'm his girlfriend, in case you didn't know. And only I can call him Draco- or Drakey."

Hermione tried not to puke.

"Of course I know that you two are a couple! I make sure that I know whoever Draco dates!"

"What are you, his personal stalker?" Pansy smirked, "I'll tell him that."

Please do, Hermione begged silently. Make him think I like him.

"You know," Pansy said slowly, "I'm the only girl Malfoy actually talks to. Y'know, talk talks to. Nobody else."

Hermione sighed, "I know." She muttered 'lucky' under her breath, but loud enough for Pansy to hear it.

"What did you say?" Pansy said sharply.

"Nothing," Hermione quickly said. "I just said 'I know'."

"No you didn't. You said lucky! Why, are you jealous of me or something?" Pansy sniggered.

Hermione looked down. "I'm not jealous," she said quietly. "I feel sorry for him."

"Excuse me?" Pansy was outraged. "You feel sorry for Drakey?"

"Yes," Hermione said, "yes. I feel so sorry for him. He gets you as a girlfriend, you don't even qualify! Look what you did to his hair! You look like you're trying to grab his attention or something. Tell me, Pansy, is he getting tired of you?"

"No!" Pansy yelled, "Drakey loves me! Me! How dare you say he doesn't! And that hairstyle brings out his eyes and chin!"

"It makes him look like a bloody alien or something!" Hermione exploded, rather enjoying the way she made Pansy shiver in anger.

"It looks great on him! How dare you! Get away from me, you filthy mudblood!"

Pansy stalked away, hissing angrily.

Hermione returned to her own seat, trying to hide her grin as Pansy give Malfoy a detailed description (with some bits exaggerated) of what the conversation was about. By the looks of it, Malfoy seemed to agree with Hermione about Pansy not qualifying as his girlfriend. Pity Pansy didn't catch on though, she thought her precious Drakey was still in love with her.

"..and then she tells me, 'you just wait, you smelly girl, I'll steal him away'! She actually thinks she's got a chance at getting you!"

Draco was smirking now, but Pansy didn't seem to know it.

"It's like, it's like she bloody likes you! Even though you're taken-"

"Get ready," Hermione muttered to Harry, who was clutching the spelled voice recorder.

"-I'm YOUR girlfriend! How dare she? Is she, is she mad or something?"

"No, I don't think so," Malfoy smiled, "I think she's perfectly sane."

"Well she's definitely jealous of me! She said so! 'I'm sooo jealous of you, Pansy, you've got the looks, the body and the perfect boyfriend!'"

"Bingo!" Harry said, "It's recorded down."

"As if I'll be jealous of her," Hermione muttered furiously, "She's got a face like a pug dog!"

"Get over there, Hermione!" Harry gave her the voice recording shell (bought from Diagon Alley's street vendors).

"That wouldn't work," Hermione frowned, "Malfoy would think I did all this just to make it seem like I'm jealous. That means the entire plan would fail. Ron, you should go and say something."

"Like what?" Ron wondered.

"Like... talk to Malfoy as if he's your love rival!" Harry suggested, grinning his head off.

Ron sighed. "Fine, whatever."

Ron banged his way to Malfoy's desk, pushed Pansy off his lap and had Malfoy whimpering as Ron lifted him by the back of his robes.

"Did I hear what I just heard? Malfoy?" Ron spat, "Hermione likes you? YOU? Unbelievable. She deserves someone a hundred times better like..." he struggled to find an example.

"You!" Harry hissed, "You're his rival!"

"Like me! I'm so much better suited for her!"

"Why, Weasel," Malfoy smirked, "Are you jealous?"

"Not of you, of course not, she'll get over it."

"I sure hope so," Trilled Pansy, "She was giving me all this crap about her being jealous of me having Malfoy!"

"Hermione? Jealous of you? Get out, you're making this whole crap up!" Ron shouted.

By this time, all of the potions class had stopped whatever they were doing and was listening in.

"Hermione, jealous?" Lavender breathed, "she committed Envy without knowing it!"

Parviti was grinning from ear to ear. "Go Hermione!"

"Look stunned!" Harry urged Hermione.

Hermione's mouth dropped open, her eyes wide in amazement. Honestly, Hermione thought, I should be an actress or something!

"Harry! Cross it out!" Lavender squealed, "Oh, thank you, _Pansy, _for telling us that fact!"

Malfoy scowled at Pansy. "Thanks a lot," he snarled. "Now I'm going to lose for sure!"

"Aw, but... Drakey," Pansy begged, "it wasn't my fault! It was all that filthy mudblood Granger's fault! It was all part of a plan, it's a conspiracy!" She shrieked.

"Didn't I tell you not to call her mudblood?" Malfoy said coldly. "Go away. We're over, I can't believe that you made us lose for this sin, PLUS you keep insulting Hermione, which I told you not to do." He looked really angry.

But Malfoy was actually really pleased about the way things were moving. It was the perfect opportunity to dump Pansy. He had to look as if he fancied Hermione back, and if he dumped Pansy for Hermione, wouldn't look great?

Harry crossed Envy out with his quill. The bell rang and Snape sourly asked them to complete a fifteen foot essay on the Polyjuice potion.

* * *

That afternoon, before dinner and after classes, Hermione and her two friends celebrated the success of their plan by sneaking down to the kitchens and asking for a whole crate of butterbeer from the elves.

"It's Greed next," Hermione sighed, sitting back in her chair up in the Gryffindor common room. "I'll have to be Greedy with boys. That's going to be hard."

"Oh don't worry about that," Ron waved his hand, "We've recruited some guys to help us out. They'll be acting as your boyfriends tomorrow, and they promised to make it seem especially real in front of Malfoy, so that he won't feel suspicious."

"But it will be, with me suddenly appearing with all these boys that I don't know," Hermione said worriedly.

"About that, hopefully he forgets the order of the sins," Harry said. "Ron and I took down the list of sins after that anger episode. It'll make it harder for Malfoy to plot what's next if he forgets it, and Fred and George certainly won't tell him what the next sin is, I hope."

"But like I said before, it'll be really unlike me-he's bound to know."

"But what if the boy's that acted as your boyfriends were people that you normally hang around with already?" Ron asked.

Hermione gaped at him, "Not you-Ron or you, Harry, right? Because that would be extremely hard-it'll be awkward!"

"Don't be daft," Ron sighed, "of course not Harry and I. I'm talking about Neville, Dean, Seamus, Fred, George and oh yeah, Hagrid."

"HAGRID?" Hermione shrieked, "how's that going to be like? He's a teacher!"

"There' s been some dodgy rumours flying about that the reason why you visited him so much in third year was that you and him, were, er, having a relationship." Harry said meekly.

"WHAT? I, what? Who? Who said that?" Hermione shouted.

"Actually, we did," Ron grinned, "with the help of Neville and them, we were spreading the rumours yesterday and today, when you weren't around."

"But what about Hagrid? He's a teacher, he could get sacked!" Hermione said worriedly.

"Dumbledore's on this too," Harry said, "I think Fred and George personally told him of our plan. He told them to raise his bet from five galleons to twenty galleons. We know because Dumbledore keeps winking our way and I saw him change the figure on the betting parchment himself."

Hermione wondered what on earth was their headmaster thinking at a time like this.

"So, for the remainder of today," Ron instructed Hermione, "You'll not be sitting with us two but with Neville, Dean, Seamus, Fred and George at the table for dinner. Tell them what not to do, what to do, what you like, what you don't like, yada yada yada."

"You guys are really into this bet thing, aren't you?" Hermione said, "seems like you guys got the whole thing planned out and are just waiting for the galleons to come in."

"Damn right," Harry grinned. "Now get into greedy mode, Hermione, you're going to be a...er, six timer tomorrow."

"Cheers," Hermione sighed.


	6. Chapter 6: Greed

**A/N: I'm really really sorry that I didn't update when I said I was going to- this chapter was extra long and school just started. It's my final year-so teacher's give us extra homework.**

**Just to be on the safe side-the next chapter will most likely not be updated tomorrow either. I'm aiming for Saturday.**

**Please continue to read and review though!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Greed**

Hermione wondered how on earth she was going to pull this whole Greed thing off. Harry had handed her a schedule of who she was to be seen hanging around with at what time of the day. He even went as far as to plan out Hermione and whoever it was she was with at that time would be seen by what kind of people.

Hermione was awfully curious as to why Ron and Harry were so keen on this whole 'break Malfoy's heart and ruin him' plan. Just over the short days, it had gone from a simple dare to prove that she wasn't a boring person to a large scale school wide bet to Harry, Ron and Hermione planning their revenge on Malfoy. It was no longer just as simple as losing money, or proving to some strangers about who she really was, somewhere along the way, it turned into a serious game. A game where Ron and Harry were the ones pushing the buttons on the game controller, guiding Hermione around to 'blow up' the ultimate enemy: Draco Malfoy.

She really hoped that the results (as Ron kept reminding her to think about) were good. Great enough to get their revenge on all those years that Malfoy bullied and teased her, but not so much as really ruining him to the point Malfoy wanted to commit suicide, though no doubt Ron would argue with her about that point.

Hermione didn't want to become like Adolf Hitler, who said that the results justified the means. She didn't want to sacrifice Malfoy's sanity (or life) just so they could get back at him.

Dean was waiting for her outside the Fat Lady's portrait. He nodded a 'hello' to her, and with the Fat Lady and her friend Violet watching with interest, the two of them headed downstairs for breakfast.

Hermione was really inexperienced in the whole 'date' compartment, but Dean, who no doubt, gained most of his experience with Ginny, guided her graciously on how to act like a proper couple.

Still, Hermione thought how awkward things were between them. She was never really close to Dean anyway, and suddenly being told to act as his girlfriend was a crazy step she was trying take.

The two sat down, and when Dean glanced at the Slytherin table, he relaxed his hand from Hermione's.

"He's not here yet, so why bother acting?" Dean said. "After all, this whole thing was about getting back at Malfoy right?"

It seemed Dean wasn't informed about the other plan. The plan to commit Greed.

"Yeah," Hermione agreed, catching Hagrid winking at her from the teachers table. When Hermione waved back, Hagrid had to hide his face in his bowl of cereal to stop himself from chortling. Hagrid probably didn't know fully what his role was, as Harry and Ron told Hermione just act as herself around Hagrid; the rumours will do the rest. Besides, it would be extremely difficult to explain to Hagrid that no, he didn't need to wear his best horrible suit or wear that pungent aftershave when 'going out' with Hermione, like he did with that Headmistress.

Hagrid was probably laughing at the thought of Hermione six-timing. If Hermione wasn't actually part of this whole thing, she probably would've laughed too.

But she was.

"Heads up, he's coming," Dean muttered, lacing his fingers with hers.

"Er- Dean?" Hermione whispered, "We're just acting like a couple, b-but, I don't want to... er-"

"-I know," Dean grinned, "Don't worry, I won't snog you in front of Malfoy, or hug you. Harry told me- he's afraid you might freak out."

"Good," she breathed in relief. "Because I don't plan on doing that to a person I'm not that familiar with-no offence," she added.

Dean shrugged, but was smiling as he darted a look at Malfoy to see whether Malfoy was watching them. He was. "Ron gave me a whole list of things we have to do at breakfast," Dean said frowning, "I don't think that's a good idea, but whatever."

"What's the first thing?" Hermione asked.

"Hold hands all the time-which is what we're doing now." He answered, "Drat, Pansy's got his attention now. But when he looks at us, I'll say something random and you start laughing hysterically as if I said the funniest joke ever."

"Laugh hysterically?" Hermione was appalled, "no joke is _that_ funny."

"Well," Dean said, smirking, "that's what Ron thinks his future girlfriend would do: laugh at all his corny jokes."

Both Hermione and Dean sniggered at that thought.

"He's turning this way!" Hermione hissed, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"Okay... um, I love football," Dean said, saying the first thing that popped into his mind.

"That's it?" Hermione asked, "that's the joke?"

"Yes!"

"Oh, then, er, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Hermione gave a really high-pitched laugh that sounded awfully fake. But nevertheless, it got Malfoy's full attention; he was watching her with a raised eye-brow and looked curious as to what Dean was saying that was so hilarious.

"What's next?" Hermione asked, wiping her mouth with her napkin.

"Er, I think it was...oh yeah, you start talking about something, and I have to keep my eyes on you all the time. No glancing at Malfoy, it says."

Hermione chewed on her lip to think of something to say. "Did you finish that essay Snape wanted? The fifteen foot essay on Polyjuice Potions?"

"Er, you actually did the whole fifteen foot essay?" Dean asked, uncertain of whether she was just lying for the sake of saying something.

"Actually no," Hermione admitted, "I did twenty feet. I had a hard job of ravelling the whole thing up afterwards, but I found in the library a book on how the Polyjuice Potion was created, and since Professor Snape didn't specify on which part of the Polyjuice Potion he wanted us to talk about, I decided to start from the history, to the properties of the ingredients and how they manage to change the appearance of the drinker, to the side effects and the exceptions and-"

Dean was forcing himself to keep his eyes on Hermione's face all the time she was talking, trying to make it look as if he was mesmerised by her, but that was proving to be very difficult. Who cared about who created the Polyjuice Potion?

"-I learned that although any part of the person you are trying to change into is fine, but the best tasting bits are actually not hair, but toe nails. It's awfully disgusting to drink their toe nails, but the book clearly said that from the investigations and data they collected, toe nails were definitely the best tasting part. I've always thought perhaps something less footy, but apparently not..."

"Ahem... yeah, I know about that already," Dean butted in, tired of listening to Hermione telling him about that dreaded potion. Hermione was slightly put out by his interruption, but wisely did not show that on her face.

"What's next?" Hermione asked again.

"Er- I think the next one, personally, no offence... isn't that great an idea, er-"

"Just say it."

"Fine. We feed each other bits of food from our own plates."

Hermione grimaced. "Where does Ron get his ideas from?" She grumbled.

"Careful," Dean warned, "Malfoy's watching."

Hermione quickly rearranged her features. "I'll start then. I'll grab that slice of bacon-okay?"

Dean shrugged, "Whatever," he said, not really caring what Hermione fed him-as long as it was edible, of course.

Hermione gingerly used her fork (after wiping it on a clean napkin) to lift up the piece of untouched bacon and tried hard to look happy while she tipped the whole slice into Dean's mouth.

"fash wash won fug beash," Dean mumbled, trying to chew the bacon.

"Uh-excuse me?"

Dean swallowed, "That was one big piece," he repeated.

"Sorry," Hermione said, but inside she couldn't really care less- she was just glad that she didn't have to do that again.

"My turn," even Hermione could tell Dean was not really pleased about the plan, but neither of them could complain; Malfoy's eyes were trained on them.

"Er, how about that grape?" Hermione pointed to the lone green grape that was separated from the rest. Dean nodded.

"Fork or hands?"

"...Hands, I guess. Easier that way." Hermione really just wanted to not have that grape at all.

Dean picked the grape up from his plate and half threw the grape into her mouth.

Hermione struggled to keep on smiling. "Yeeuch! Sour!"

Dean studied the piece of parchment Ron had given him before under the table.

"When we're finishing up he wants us to hold hands, even though we already are, and keep laughing all the way out until we're out of sight. Oh yeah, and he wants us as close as possible when walking," Dean said nonchalantly.

Hermione gulped. How close was as close as possible?

* * *

Malfoy was at first furious at himself and at his club when he found out that neither of them could remember what today's sin was. But his anger quickly dissolved as he saw Hermione and Dean sitting together and holding hands as if they were the only people in the world.

He was pretty sure Lust was last, so why the heck was Hermione acting all lovey-dovey with that stupid tall Gryffindor? He was so focused on trying to see and listen to what Hermione and her boyfriend was saying, that even when Pansy told him to open his mouth so she could feed him his toast, he did it without thinking.

What in the world was that Gryffindor saying that made her laugh like that? And what was she saying that seemed so interesting? Malfoy was dying to know. Luckily Potions was next, then he would be able to get a clearer picture on what exactly was the relationship between those two. If Hermione had decided to hook up with Dean, then his whole plan would fail.

He needed Hermione to look at him like that. And only him. He needed that money, damn it!

A small part of him reminded that he didn't actually need nor cared for an extra bit of gold, he was rich enough already, but he chose to ignore that part of him. Money, good looks and pride was what made him a Malfoy, and he would not sacrifice any of those. (But he couldn't explain the weird feeling he got when he saw Thomas holding Granger's hand.)

Well, he thought, in Potions, I'll just sit near those two and find out what it is between them.

And where the hell were Pothead and Weasel?

* * *

Ron and Harry were actually sitting not far from Dean and Hermione, Malfoy was just too absorbed in the two to notice that the 'pothead and the weasel' was nearer to him than the couple were.

Ron couldn't help but laugh as he saw Dean struggle to keep his act together. "Trust Hermione to talk about homework, eh?" he grinned at Harry.

But Harry wasn't listening. He was looking gleefully at Malfoy's troubled face. "He really does fancy her, doesn't he? He's totally red with envy!"

Ron swivelled around, "Where is my camera when I need it?" he moaned. "A red-faced ferret being fed by a pug dog-Front page material, I think."

"I know-he looks like he wants to bash Dean up. Which reminds me, have I got this right? Neville's for Potions, isn't he? And then Hagrid for between classes, Seamus for lunch, Fred for outside Defence, George for dinner, and then switching between the six of them after that, is that right?" Harry asked.

Ron checked the piece of parchment, scratching his nose with the end of his fork. "Yep, sounds about right, luckily Hagrid got a day off today-Dumbledore told him to focus on Groundkeeping for today and leave the lessons until tomorrow. Good thing Dumbledore's on our side, eh?"

"Yeah," Harry said, still looking at Malfoy. "You don't think he really, really fancies her right? Because I'm starting to regret all this."

"What are you talking about mate?" Ron gaped, "He's a total git! He's been calling Hermione names and all that from first year! Of course he totally deserves this! And he probably just fancies her, y'know, he'll get over it soon enough."

"Alright then," Harry said, but he wasn't fully convinced. That look on Malfoy's face made him rethink a few things. He recognised that look on Malfoy as the look on his ownface when he saw Cedric and Cho dancing together- it was a mixture of trying to seem uncaring, but about 75 percent of the look was just pure envy showing through.

"Besides, he's probably just acting to like her to dump her and make her all sad," Ron declared, tossing the final piece of his pancake into his mouth.

"I doubt that," Harry said.

Little did they know that Ron was actually right for once.

* * *

"He's leaving," Dean muttered, putting down his goblet. "C'mon."

"Just a question," Hermione looked curiously at him, "Why'd you agree to pretend as my boyfriend?"

Dean looked away. "Er, well, er... Harry offered to do my Defence essay and to give me twenty sickles if I agreed," he admitted.

Hermione was stunned. Harry was willing to do extra HOMEWORK and give away money just to be able to follow through on their plan? Unbelievable.

They managed to get in front of Malfoy without looking as if they did it on purpose. Dean gripped Hermione's hand tighter and pulled her towards him so that her head was constantly bumping into his shoulder.

Totally aware that Malfoy's eyes were on them the whole time, Hermione and Dean kept laughing and giggling as if they shared a really funny private joke.

"And remember-?"

"You mean last year-?"

"Yeah! It was so awesome!" And then they'd giggle, even though both of them had no idea what the other was thinking of.

"Idiots," Malfoy brushed past and glared at the two. "Get a room, geez."

"Just because _you're_ jealous," Hermione challenged, "I have a boyfriend that understands me and laughs with me instead of just clinging and whining to me all the time."

Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "In case you forgot," he said slowly, "Pansy and I broke up yesterday. In Potions. I dumped her-Pansy was like, the girl, in Slytherin, so why would I be jealous of Thomas for having a girl like _you_?"

Then he stormed away, his robes billowing behind me, freakishly like Snape.

Dean released Hermione's hand, who massaged feeling into it. "Sorry," Dean apologised, "It's just it seemed weird when that Malfoy is glaring at us from behind."

Hermione shook her hand, "I really appreciate you helping out, even if you did it because of the...awards. I have to hang around with Neville next-Potions."

"Which means," Dean grinned, "I have to go to the Hospital Wing because I'm down with the flu-Harry and Ron wanted me out of the Potions classroom so I 'wouldn't know' that you and Neville were hanging out."

"How are you going to pull that off?" Hermione asked, "You don't look as if you're sick to me."

"Fred and George," Dean said simply.

"Oh, of course. Skiving Snackboxes." Hermione sighed.

"Remind Harry that he's meeting us in the Common Room after dinner," he said as he left.

* * *

Malfoy waited outside the classroom, pretending to fix his uniform up, watching from the corner of his eyes for Hermione and Dean to walk past him and into the Potion's classroom.

To his immense surprise, Hermione came into the class alone.

"Where's that Thomas?" Malfoy asked, stepping in front of her.

Hermione sighed. "That's really none of your business, Malfoy. Now get out of my way."

He folded his arms across his chest. "Where's that Thomas?" He repeated, obviously not going to let Hermione past anytime soon.

"Like I said," Hermione said slowly, as if she was talking to a one-year old, "That. Is. None. Of. Your. Business. Did I not make that clear before? Or is it that your over-gelled head is so thick that you can't process information quick enough?"

Malfoy scowled. "Just tell me where he is- I er, have a question I want to ask about him about that essay Snape gave us."

Hermione looked doubtful. "What kind of question?" She asked.

"Er, the part about, er, about the ingredients," Malfoy said lamely.

"Which ingredient?" Hermione persisted, "because I found this interesting book in the library that says that-"

"I didn't want to ask YOU," Malfoy said nastily, "I was looking for Thomas."

"Well then," Hermione sighed, "get out of my way."

"Tell me-"

"-Y'know, you've been teasing me from day one of school, you should watch it," Hermione warned him, "people might think you fancy me."

And then she pushed past in and headed inside where Neville had thoughtfully reserved her a seat beside him.

Malfoy stood there, this mouth opening and closing. Perhaps Hermione WAS right, his hair was so thickly gelled that no information could reach his brain for processing, because he still couldn't understand why he couldn't utter a disagreement to her words.

* * *

"Hi Hermione," Neville said nervously. "I should tell you that I'm not very good at this acting business-"

"That's alright," Hermione said kindly, "I know Harry and Ron forced you to do this."

"Actually..." Neville looked away, blushing, "They told me that they'll buy me the new Herbology book that just came out. I'm sorry," he added, seeing Hermione's furious face.

"What is it with them two?" Hermione hissed angrily, "why in the world are they so obsessed out this plan? Harry wasn't that into it before!"

Neville shrugged, "All I know is that Malfoy's getting back what he deserves," he said, looking at Malfoy who was staring at them in disbelief from the doorway. Hermione quickly grabbed Neville's hand, making sure their linked hands were in full view.

"I sure hope he's not getting back MORE than he deserves," She muttered, "He's a bully and all, but he's never seriously physically assaulted me or made me want to commit suicide."

"Yeah, well, think of this plan as revenge for everybody he's tormented in the past," Neville said darkly, "I'm glad I was asked to participate in this."

"Did Ron give you a list?" Hermione asked suddenly, thinking she might want to be prepared this time.

"As a matter of fact, he did. Want to see?" Neville produced a rather scrunched up piece of parchment and gave it to her, smoothing it hastily as he did.

"Let's see... holding hands all the time-how are we supposed to brew potions and write down notes? Let's change that to 'hold hands as much as possible'. Then... while brewing potions, Hermione is to giggle at everything Neville says. That makes me sound like a Pansy," She frowned, "I'm changing that to 'Hermione laughs with Neville when the situation is right'. Next- sit close together with heads touching all the time, that's okay, I guess, unless my neck cramps from it... Neville to cut and skin the ingredients for Hermione, and (even though it may not be that great) Hermione is to use them and smile and look appreciative and stunned at Neville's 'thoughtfulness'. Okay...then."

"That's just for during class," Neville sighed, "When the bell rings we have to hug, then hold hands-didn't he say that's we're to hold hands all the time already? Then we linger around the classroom and look all sad that we have different classes next. I walk slowly off-facing you and walking backwards. Then Hagrid comes along, and after the next period, I don't go to the great hall because I have a detention with Dumbledore- how is anybody going to believe that?"

Hermione suddenly started laughing. Neville was bewildered at first, but then saw Malfoy coming closer. It seemed he wanted to sit at the back of the two.

"That, was the best joke ever!" Hermione said, laughing. When she saw that Malfoy couldn't see her face anymore, she made a look at Neville for him to start saying something. Luckily, he caught on.

"Er, yeah, I heard it from Hogsmeade last time." Neville said, laughing along too. "Hey-remember that accident I had when you came over last holidays?"

Hermione had not gone to Neville's house ever, before, so naturally she had no idea what he was talking about. "You mean, that one where your uncle-?"

"Yeah! That one!" Neville grinned, he was making this whole thing up as well, last holidays he and his grandma went overseas and did not meet his uncle.

"That was the best, ever! I can't believe that you actually-!" Neville and Hermione broke out into fits of laughter.

Malfoy looked from Neville to Hermione, was he seeing what he's seeing now? A minute ago, Hermione was holding hands and feeding Thomas, then Thomas mysteriously disappeared, and Neville came along, with Hermione holding HIS hand and laughing at something they did together at Neville's house.

Lavender and Parviti came in, giving Hermione looks of pure hatred. They seated themselves across from Malfoy.

"I _cannot_ believe Hermione," Lavender was saying as she got out her quills and parchment. "I saw her with Dean at breakfast, looking all mushy and that. Now she's with Neville-holding hands, and wasn't she with Fred the other time, sneaking in from Hogsmeade? Not to mention her daily visits after class to Hagrid's cabin-alone. I heard from Seamus that Hermione was dating him- he was bragging about what a good kisser she was."

Malfoy nearly choked. Hermione Granger, a Gryffindor Mudblood, a good KISSER? He thought she didn't even know HOW to kiss, or WHAT a kiss was! Maybe her Miss Goody two shoes was just an act for the teachers? Damn, that meant his plan would definitely fail. Or that he'll have to make an extra effort to get her to notice him- he thought Hermione like HIM? Or was she simply just playing around with him, to get him to break up with Pansy? But then, why would she do that?

Unless...

Hermione was testing them all out- Like auditions, whoever was the best got to win her affections. In that case, Malfoy would have to participate too- even if he wasn't invited.

"That wasn't Fred that time," Parviti corrected her, "That was George, they went out for dinner at a restaurant he'd booked-that was why she wasn't there that night, remember?"

Lavender frowned, "But I thought that was Fred? Oh, wait, Fred was the one who kept sending her notes to go to the owlery, right? And then they'd be seen snogging each other there-I know because I caught them at it."

Yep- the two Gryffindor girls were on this thing too. Nobody could reject the offer of getting free books on Make-up spells tips and not to mention twenty sickles pocket money-each.

The look of disbelief, horror and envy (though he himself didn't know about this) on his face was enough to launch the two girls into another gossip round-this time the rumours were outrageous.

"I heard that Hagrid made her a small hut, just like his in the Forbidden Forest, and that he got the centaurs to guard it," Lavender breathed in jealousy.

"He did?" Parviti exclaimed, "Well _I_ heard that Dean gave her unlimited tickets to that muggle football game he liked-on the one condition that they go together. They've gone thousands of times last summer-she stayed at his place for, like, three weeks or something."

"Really?" Lavender shrieked.

"What is so interesting, Miss Brown, care to share it with the rest of us?" Snape leered at them from the front of the class. Malfoy was so absorbed in their conversation, and the fact that Hermione's and Neville's heads were touching that he failed to notice his teacher arriving.

"Oh nothing," Lavender giggled, "Nothing at all sir," she gave a hurried glare in Hermione's direction. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Is that so?" Snape's mouth was curved into a mocking smile. "Then why, can somebody tell me, is Longbottom and Granger sitting together with their heads glued together? Is it to somehow make you smarter, Longbottom?"

Neville tried to swallow his fear away, he glanced worriedly at Hermione's direction. She mouthed something to him that she wanted him to say- it was lucky that her head was positioned in a way that Snape couldn't make out what she was saying.

"I'm smart, professor," Neville said, concentrating on Hermione's lips as she continued to feed him the script, "I'm smart in classes when, er, Hermione's with me, she makes me feel... smarter." It sounded so corny to him and Hermione, but they didn't know what to say so she was reading off the piece of parchment in her hand-Harry had foreseen that Snape would query about the relationship between them two.

Even Snape was stunned into silence at this statement. But he soon recovered, "Or maybe Granger becomes an idiot around the likes of you, just to make you feel better for yourself. Kindly detach your heads from each other-I'll not tolerate such behaviour."

Reluctantly, they did as they were told, but they made sure it seemed like a great effort to do so. Their hands remained linked.

Malfoy was spitting in fury now-though he didn't know why he was so furious. Other, more intelligent people would have caught on that he was jealous of Neville, but Malfoy was a total idiot in this department. After all, Pansy was just a girlfriend on the outside, he never really liked her.

All throughout Potions, Hermione found herself glancing at Malfoy more and more often, she was actually rather pleased to see him sitting there, red-faced and angry. Besides, it made him look better- his usual pale face made him look like a vampire at times.

Hermione knew that Malfoy liked her, but she wasn't one hundred percent sure. But seeing his jealous face made her rethink a few things. If Malfoy really liked her, then would his feelings justify the reasons behind the bullying? If that was the case, then Hermione was seriously regretting thinking up the plan of breaking his heart at the end of it. Maybe she was overdoing things too much?

If he really liked her... Hermione wondered what she would do if Malfoy suddenly confessed to her. She wondered if she'd reject him. She probably would-but there was something about that hurt look on his face that made her think that she may (though the probability of this happening was near zero) just accept his confession-if he did confess, that is.

Potions went by rather fast for Hermione, but awfully slow for Malfoy, who, due to his position, had to witness every mushy moment between the two. He just felt like grabbing Neville by the back of his robes and give him a few bruises-which was weird, because he usually liked to humiliate people rather than to physically assault them.

If he had a girlfriend like Hermione, he wouldn't be cutting up the roots so roughly, or making stupid mistakes like spilling the potion on her-which Neville was doing. Hell, he would do anything to make her laugh instead of frown in worry at what might happen to her sleeve. He never realised just how wonderful her laugh sounded.

Lavender, Parviti and, yes, even Harry was slowly realising the flaw in the plan: they never actually thought that Malfoy really liked Hermione, that it was not just something random, and they certainly never even thought about the possibility of Hermione liking him back. But here they were, Hermione looking at Malfoy every few moments, subconsciously loosening her grip on Neville's as she did so, and Malfoy's constant glare every time their shoulders touched together. They were small movements, but they were there.

The bell rang, and Hermione got up rather quickly, instead of hesitating like she was told to. Malfoy looked gleefully as he realised he wouldn't see Hermione and Neville holding hands anymore, but then he frowned as he checked his timetable and found that none of the classes afterwards had Hermione in it.

He stopped in mid-thought. What in Merlin's beard was he thinking? He was sick and tired of Granger! She's a mudblood! She's... a know-it-all, and on top of that, a Gryffindor! How could he- what in the world- this was unbelievable!

Nobody should find out about this-that he 'fancied' Granger, nobody-he'll be the laughingstock of Slytherin. Besides, he'll get over it. He just 'liked' Hermione because he was girlfriendless and she managed to score some guys-he was simply angry at those who had a girlfriend when he didn't.

Oh but wait, there was still that plan. The one where he gets Hermione to fall for him so he could break her heart so badly she wouldn't be able to commit lust. And where he gets to redecorate Ron's face. But maybe he'll have to extend that list from Ron all the way to Hagrid. But he couldn't concentrate or think of the next step for his plan, everything was just a blank, all he saw was Hermione and Neville hugging and Neville backing away reluctantly.

Perhaps he'll start with the flirting first. Get Hermione's attention on him. Then he'll start with the gifts and then the helping with her books, yes, that was the plan... he was recalling it now.

"Hey, Granger!" Malfoy called out after Hermione, who was still waving.

She turned around, surprised. "Yes?"

"Do you have a raisin?" He asked, trying to recall the book of pick-up lines he'd just got in the post.

"Er-no, I don't particularly like them, why?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Then, er, do you have a date?" Malfoy was sweating now-what happened to his confidence? The Malfoy pride where they get the girl they set their eyes on?

"No. I don't like them either. I hate processed fruit like that."

Fail, Draco thought. Okay, let's try the one on page seventeen.

"I just realised-" He started, when Hermione side stepped him and gave Hagrid a big hug in the middle.

"Hermione!" Hagrid said, grinning, "Never thought yeh were so pleased ter so me! An' what are _yeh _lookin' at, Malfoy?" He added, scowling at Malfoy.

"Nothing," Malfoy sighed and shuffled away.

Hagrid frowned, "What happened ter _'im? _Thought he'd say something nasty again_._"

Malfoy sullenly headed to his next class, wondering why flirting with Hermione was so difficult. He was a natural, or so he thought. Most of the times he came up with his own lines, but he had to rely on a stupid BOOK for her.

..._I just realised you're look a lot like my next girlfriend_, was what he wanted to say.

* * *

Hermione couldn't bear it anymore, people were giving her and Hagrid funny looks, and Hagrid was beginning to get confused.

She told him all about it-the dare (though he already knew about that) to the bet (that too-he bet in favour of Hermione) to the revenge plan. She shared her views on them going overboard and that she realised that Malfoy wasn't that bad a person, if he really liked her. Yes, Malfoy did over step the line bordering teasing and bullying, but if he did that because he wanted her attention due to him fancying her, then perhaps he _should _be forgiven?

"I don' righty know," Hagrid admitted, "But apart from 'im being Lucius's son and that he got Norbert into trouble, and 'im messing up me first lesson, I guess he's not that bad as Harry an' Ron think of 'im."

"Exactly my point: he's done a few things, but they've never been that bad. The only thing that I haven't forgiven him was that buckbeak was nearly executed because of him, but apart from that, I can't really see why we treat him as our arch enemy. Besides, I made sure he regretted getting Buckbeak into trouble."

"Well, you do what you think is best," Hagrid said, stopping outside her classroom. "An' I'm sorry but I won' be here after this class-"

"I know, Hagrid, it's okay. I was going to say that you needn't to be here too-you're a teacher, not a student, and you shouldn't get tangled up in stupid decisions made by students."

"Here's your teacher-gotta go!" Hagrid waved cheerily at her and disappeared among the crowd of students, as the professor popped his head around the corner to see why there was a hold-up at the door.

Hermione sighed. She had decided that she wasn't going through with the plan-at least not all of it. She'll complete today's one, but she was going to change Pride and Lust- both of them would definitely hurt Malfoy, and for some reason, she resented that.

* * *

"Heya Hermione!" Colin Creevy beamed down at her. Hermione choked on her salad.

"C-colin?" She gasped, reaching for her goblet.

"Yep. Harry asked me to fill in for Seamus."

"Why?" Hermione said suspiciously, setting down her drained goblet. She shuffled over so he could sit down beside her.

"Dunno- I think he's got detention of something, all I know was that he got into a fight."

Hermione scowled. "A fight? At his age? How immature! How is that going to look to the younger students? We're supposed to be setting examples for them!"

"Well, he was provoked, so I guess that gives him a bit of an excuse-"

"-there is absolutely no excuse for fighting!" Hermione said furiously.

"-but I heard they each got into loads of trouble. Him and that Slytherin-Malfoy?"

Hermione looked up at the Slytherin table, and sure enough, Malfoy wasn't there. "So, er, what happened? Was the fight really bad? Were either of them hurt?"

Colin shrugged, reaching for a sandwich (peanut butter and jam), "Dunno, I only heard just now when Harry asked me to do him a favour."

"There really isn't any point in that now," Hermione sighed, "Malfoy isn't here to watch."

Hermione felt a shadow behind her and turned around. Hannah Abbott was standing there, frowning slightly.

"Yes-?" Hermione asked.

"Is it true that you're going out with Neville?"

"Yes." Hermione confirmed, but crossing her fingers under the table.

"and Dean Thomas?"

"Yes."

"Seamus Finnagan?"

"Yes."

"Rubeus Hagrid?"

"No-we're just good friends."

"You really are greedy, you know that right? Most of us settle with just one boy but-"

"Hannah," Hermione interrupted in a low voice, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening. "Can you keep a secret?"

"...what?"

"I'm not really going out with them. It's for the bet-today's Greed."

"...Oh. I'm sorry, I just thought... y'know, it well, I'm so sorry!" Hannah was blushing furiously now.

"You don't need to apologise, I know you like Neville-"

"-That's not true!" Hannah exclaimed. "I just think he's nice, that's all."

"Okay then. Well, can you do me a favour?"

"Er-"

"Just a small one. Can you repeat our conversation in front of Harry and Ron at dinner tonight? But much louder?"

"You mean... when everyone's watching?"

"Yes. Precisely."

Hannah didn't hesitate. "Okay. I'll do it." And she walked away, a new spring to her step when she found out that Neville was really dating Hermione.

"Hey Hermione," Lavender slid onto the bench opposite to them. "One of your boyfriends is in the hospital wing."

Hermione noticed that Lavender emphasised on the 's' part in 'boyfriends'.

"Oh," Hermione said, "which one? Is it Dean-because he wanted to wag today and ate a puking pastille."

"No..." Parviti grinned mischievously, "Not that one."

"Then... Neville? I told him not to go into the greenhouse-"

"-Not Neville."

"...Seamus?"

"Bingo! Along with your..." Lavender scooted forward, "_crush!"_ She whispered, giggling madly.

Hermione frowned. "I don't fancy anybody."

"Oh don't try to hide it!" Parviti grinned, "we totally saw you giving him the look during potions."

"Give WHO the WHAT?" Hermione exclaimed loudly. "If you're saying Neville, let me remind you he's my boyfriend-well, one of them."

People in the Great Hall where glancing at them. Everybody by now had seen Hermione with at least three (now four) boys, all holding hands and hugging. Professor McGonagall was informed of this plan, but she still was pursing her lips every time she saw Hermione.

"Let's start from the beginning," Lavender said, sitting back now. "Seamus had Herbology when you had Ancient Runes, and guess who else came up to him suddenly and insulted his father and mother?"

"Er-"

"-Draco Malfoy. Except this time he wasn't just sneering and smirking like he does normally, this time he really was looking for a fight. He emphasised how badly he thinks of Seamus's parents by adding in a few punches-"

"-Punches?" Hermione asked sceptically, "Malfoy doesn't do punches, he hexes them when his opponent's backs are turned."

"No, he definitely punched him, I was there. Seamus probably has a black eye to prove it. Then, of course, Seamus gets furious and pulls out his wand, but who knew that Malfoy wanted to settle it with fists? So they wrestle and fight while their wands are forgotten, then they smash into one of the plants that should really be left alone-"

"Oh no!" Hermione groaned.

"Oh yes," Parviti said grimly. "They smashed into the Devil's Snare and were nearly choking to death while the others tried to free them when Professor came in and saved them. But they had to go to the Hospital Wing, they were squeezed rather tightly."

"Is he... alright?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, Seamus? Yeah, he'll be alright."

"Actually I meant-never mind." Hermione sighed. "I'll go visit him now-sorry Colin."

Colin shrugged, "Just tell Harry I sat beside you for lunch, 'kay?"

Hermione nodded.

... Actually I was asking about Draco Malfoy, Hermione thought as she walked out the door.

* * *

Hermione glanced at the two bruised and blistered boys, lying next to each other (though in separate beds, of course). She sat down beside Seamus quickly, after she realised Draco was awake and looking sleepily at her.

"'Hermione?" Seamus murmured. "What the he-? Oh, right. Sorry I couldn't make it to lunch that git-"

"- I have a name," Draco said coldly.

"Whatever. Just tell Harry that he doesn't need to... yeah." Seamus sighed. "So how was lunch without me?"

"Oh, I was really lonely without you," Hermione said, loud enough for Draco to hear her clearly. Draco scowled at what she said.

"Hey half-blood," Draco snarled, "You must not even be half a man since Granger seems to think you're not enough."

"Shut up," Hermione said sharply.

"Oh, doesn't poor Seamus know? I bet you weren't at all lonely at lunch, you have a whole hoard-"

"Jealous are you?" Seamus smirked, "Just because I have a girlfriend and you got dumped."

"I dumped HER!" Draco half-yelled. "I never liked Pansy in the first place!"

"Then why did you date her?" Hermione asked, though she was slightly happy about his statement.

"Because she's one of the most wanted girls in Slytherin-how would I look if I rejected her?"

"Arrogant? Proud? Stupid?" Hermione supplied, "but you don't just look like that, you ARE arrogant, proud and stupid."

Draco's face darkened. "Don't insult me."

"Then what gives you the right to insult me then?" Hermione challenged. "You've been calling me a Mudblood, know-it-all, stupid, ugly, buck-toothed from day one!"

"... because-"

"-Oh, don't start finding excuses now!" Hermione said, "I won't believe in your lies. I know why you did though."

"No you don't."

"Oh yes I do-and don't deny it. But I'm not going to tell you-"

"-Why not? Too afraid to handle the truth? That what I've been saying is all true?"

"No, of course it isn't!"

Their bickering made Seamus sigh in frustration and burrowed himself deeply under his covers. Even HE realised what was going on between the two of them, and Seamus had only been with them two together for less than ten minutes.

He probably didn't mind them getting together- Malfoy seemed actually tolerable when she was around him. And Hermione seemed freer around him too-she could unleash all her fury on him without thinking of the consequences.

* * *

Fred slung his arm around Hermione, grinning madly as he caught sight of Draco glaring at them from inside the classroom. People around them were giving Hermione confused and disproving looks, and Fred adored the attention.

"Hermione, darling," Fred grinned slyly. "Let's ditch this class and go to somewhere cosier-"

"-Fred, remember, just talking and hugging and holding hands-nothing else." Hermione warned.

"Aw, alright then. Anyway, about that potion I was talking about? Yeah, we got rid of the side-effects finally-it's on a bargain right now. Ten sickles, how about that?"

"No."

"Hermione..."

"No. I mean, it's a brilliant idea and all, but I don't want another potion into my system again-the hyper one and that anger one was just too much."

"Malfoy alert!" Fred interrupted, quickly he pulled Hermione into a rib-crushing hug. Then he smirked at Draco from behind Hermione's back.

Draco was steaming. But did Hermione see in that stupid idiot? He wondered.

"Er-Mr Weasley? I believe you have Charms now-that's not around here." The professor looked curiously at the two-the tall red haired twin and the shorter bushy haired girl hugging each other.

"Oh Sorry Sir!" Fred released Hermione, who gasped for breath. "I'll be waiting at the owlery tonight!" He winked, his not-so-quiet whisper carrying to the far corners of the classroom.

Draco imagined Fred with his hair shaved off and his skin dyed a mouldy green colour. That made him feel a bit better. But only just a tiny bit.

* * *

Dinner.

George was slightly more modest than Fred, who didn't suggest sleazy things, but he kept winking at her suggestively in a not-so-subtle way.

"Do you want this tart, Hermione?" George asked, "I can feed you." Wink. Wink.

"Er-is Draco watching?"

George shrugged, "I think so-wait." George swivelled around and stared straight at the blonde and jealous and disgusted Slytherin. George made a 'haha, I got Hermione and you got nobody' face at him, which made Draco even more furious.

"Now he is." George turned back, grinning in satisfaction.

"Okay then-it isn't one of your joke-tarts or whatever, right?" Hermione looked at the Fruit tart that looked so innocent-but nearly all of the twin's stuff looked innocent at first glance.

"Of course not!" George was offended, "I wouldn't dare feed you those-you're my GIRLFRIEND!" He yelled, causing everybody to go silent and look at him.

He waved at them and feed Hermione the tart, making sure that everybody saw.

Draco choked while eating his steak, and Goyle had to thump on his back. Hermione looked at Draco worriedly, but when she saw that he resurfaced and was slapping Goyle's hand away, she immediately turned back to George and smiled at him.

"Thanks, George," She said clearly. "That was one of the best deserts I've ever had."

"I could create a whole delicious menu for you to enjoy," George said, winking.

Hermione groaned inwardly. Why did Harry and Ron recruit the twins? Then she saw Harry and Ron coming in for dinner, with Hannah trailing behind.

Showtime.

* * *

Malfoy waited for Hermione outside the Great Hall, he decided to throw in a few more pick-up lines and give her a small gift. It might be too sudden, but times were desperate, there was only Pride left before Lust, and he needed her to fall for him, fast.

As expected, Hermione was alone. Harry and Ron was busy boasting about their brilliant and subtle plan and Neville and her pretend boyfriends were awarded superb acting medals by Dumbledore.

After Harry and Ron had been informed by Hermione that she was out, they were stunned and shocked. But then they got over it when Hagrid came along and explained to them why their plan wasn't a brilliant one. Though Harry and Ron were far from accepting Draco and willing to forgive him, they didn't really want to make a scene (besides, Harry realised Hermione's feelings for Malfoy-even if she didn't realise it herself).

"Hey Granger."

Hermione sighed.

"What, Malfoy?" She asked sharply.

"I'm invisible."

"Oh really?" Scoffed Hermione.

"Can you see me?"

"Obviously yes."

"Then how about tomorrow night?"

Hermione paused a few seconds. "No. And why would you suddenly say something like that?"

Draco sighed. She was one tough cookie.

"What would you do if you could rearrange the alphabet?"

Hermione looked confused. "Why would I do that?"

"Well, if I could I'll put U and I together."

That made Hermione laugh out loud. "Come off it Malfoy, are you on drugs or something?"

Draco looked horrified. "Of course not!"

"Then why are you reciting pick-up lines from a book?"

"I...er..." Draco's mouth opened and closed repeatedly.

"Never mind," Hermione said hastily. She wouldn't know what to say if he blurted out he liked her or something. It would be awkward.

"Here's your Christmas present." Draco thrust out an expensive looking present, wrapping in paper that changed patterns every few seconds.

"Er- thanks? But Christmas isn't for a month-?"

"-Just take it, Granger," Draco butted in. "I'm only giving it to you because you looked like you needed it."

Crap. He didn't mean to say that-he was supposed to be nice, remember? Hermione liked her guys nice-he guessed.

Hermione grudgingly took it. "It's...er... thank you." She said, not sure whether to look pleased or suspicious.

Draco didn't know what to say or look too-so he turned around and walked away, leaving a very confused Hermione behind.

* * *

She wondered why her heart thumped so loudly when he gave her that present.

* * *

.... It couldn't be-? No. Definitely not. Hermione Granger did not fancy Slytherin boys. She only pretended to for the plan, which she abolished. But why would she try and justify Draco's actions?

It was confusing.


	7. Chapter 7: Pride

**A/N: I'M REALLY SORRY- but it wasn't my fault. Not really. I tried updating yesterday (Saturday) But there was a problem with my internet. I keep getting disconnected. **

**It wasn't until today that I was able to update :( Sorry. I really did try.**

**--**

**On another note: YAY over 100 reviews!**

**Thanks so much!**

* * *

**Chapter seven: Pride**

Hermione woke up with a chill down her spine.

Someone, or rather, something, was on her face. Something...wet, and so bloody COLD.

She opened her eyes warily, and she saw three distinct figures standing around her come slowly into focus. They seemed to be holding something over her face.

That same cold and wet substance dripped down from their fingers again. Cursing, Hermione sat up suddenly and whacked at whoever was surrounding her.

"Ow Hermione!" Ginny muttered, rubbing her arm.

"Is that how you say, 'good morning'?" Hermione snapped.

"Someone's up nice and bright," Lavender said, smirking. "Look what we found!"

Parviti then dumped the entire contents of the jug right over Hermione, causing her to splutter and shiver in horror.

It took her a minute to realise it wasn't water the jug was holding. It was something white, wet and melting...

"IT'S SNOWING?" Hermione shrieked, getting up and grabbing her wand. Quickly she cast a drying-charm and vanishing spell to get rid of the snow from her bed and her clothes. She pulled the curtains wide open and gaped in amazement as she saw the snowflakes gently floating down.

Hermione had seen snow before, of course, but it never ceased to amaze her at their beauty. The snow was so white and beautiful, until somebody decided to gather some into a jug and tip it over her sleeping face, that is.

Her friends came beside her and Ginny threw open the window, causing some of the snowflakes to come drifting in, where one landed squarely on Hermione's pink nose.

The three girls struggled to keep their laughter in as Hermione looked at the blurry thing on her nose-cross eyed.

"Hmph," Hermione grumbled, wiping it off.

"Aren't you happy," Parviti said sarcastically, "Normally you'd be squealing 'Snow! Snow!' Like that idiot down there."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "I didn't sleep that well last night. And-" She glanced down, squinting to see who was dancing wildly in the snow like that.

"Isn't that-" Lavender breathed, following Hermione's gaze and Parviti's pointing finger.

Ginny leaned forward out the window. "Seems like it," She sighed. "That was a scene I wished I'd never live to see, but here I am."

Pansy was whirling around in the snow. Ugh. Her pug face was lit up and her robes were whirling behind her. Double ugh.

Lavender gagged, "What does she think she is, the angel from hell? Close the curtains, Hermione."

Hermione was about to yank the curtains shut, but then saw a second figure striding towards Pansy, their wand out and shouting furiously.

"Oooh," Parviti prised Hermione's fingers away from the curtains and the four of them craned their necks to get a better look.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" The second figure roared, pushing Pansy away from the pile of snow she was, er, 'dancing' on.

Pansy shot the person a look that made the hairs on Hermione's neck stand up. "Aw, Drakey-"

"Don't call me that!" The person, who was Draco, snapped. "Look what you did!"

It was then Hermione noticed that Pansy wasn't just standing on a random pile of snow, but snow that had been magically arranged into a shape.

"I saw the note," Pansy beamed, "I was up early and saw this out the window. That was so sweet-"

"-It wasn't for you!" Draco said sharply. "You totally ruined it!"

Ginny dashed to Lavender's bed suddenly and grabbed her friend's binoculars which was on the bedside table. She adjusted the lens and thrust it at Hermione, who was still trying to decipher what the shape was.

"Take a look at it," Ginny grinned, "I think that note was meant for you."

Hermione gave her a Look. "Yeah, right," She sniggered, "Draco Malfoy hates me, remember?"

"We all know about the plan, and the reason why you guys came up with the plan," Lavender said mysteriously.

"Harry and Ron told Ginny, who told us," Parviti added. "We know that Malfoy likes you. That's why you guys were planning to use this against them."

"Not anymore," Hermione murmured. "My conscience tells me that doing that would be wrong."

"And..." Lavender said in a sing-song voice. "We saw Malfoy talking to you outside the Great Hall, plus you stuffing a present into your trunk. Just spill it, Hermione, what did he give you?"

Hermione shrugged, her cheeks pink. "I don't know, I haven't opened it yet."

Parviti immediately flipped opened Hermione's trunk and started rummaging through it, searching for that gift.

Hermione peered through the binoculars, wishing that Draco would just move two steps to the left and Pansy out of her sight. "It looks... like a written note- not a picture."

Lavender snatched the binoculars away from Hermione. "It says... OHMYGOD!"

"What?" Hermione said urgently, "what does it say?"

"It says... well, I can only read the first world because stupid Pansy and Malfoy is blocking the view. But...I can't believe it."

"Just get on with it," Ginny said impatiently, while Parviti was still throwing things out from Hermione's trunk.

"The first word is, 'I'." Lavender breathed.

Hermione raised her eyebrows, " I? That's it?"

"Don't you understand?" She breathed. "I is the start of many... interesting sentences."

Parviti was grinning as she triumphantly unearthed the small package. "Yeah. 'I love you', is one sentence that starts with 'I'."

Hermione gaped. "Malfoy's not that, er, straightforward is he?"

" 'I love you!'" Ginny sniggered, "Who knew Malfoy was such a romantic freak?"

Hermione frowned. "I seriously doubt that's what's written there. Pass me the binoculars please, I think he's clearing the mess Pansy made."

Sure enough, Pansy was stomping back to the castle, a sour expression on her face. She looked up and caught sight of Hermione, Lavender and Ginny and shook her fist at them. "What Potion did you use?" Pansy shrieked, "You filthy mudblood, you know-it-all, you nerd, geek-"

"It's called me being _educated_, you idiot!" Hermione yelled. "I'm not a nerd. I'm educated! Unlike you!"

"Whoa, Hermione," Ginny patted Hermione's back, "Calm down. It's not like you to get all fired up at that Pug."

Hermione sighed. "Looking at her just makes me angry."

"Join the club," Parviti muttered, tugging at the wrapping. "I think only Hermione can open this-it's spelled."

Hermione waited until Draco stored his wand away, smile up at her, before peering through the binoculars again.

"Look at his expression," Lavender sighed, "If only he wasn't mean and a Slytherin, I'd totally date him-he's so cute!"

"Hey, hands off, he's Hermione's." Ginny warned, but she was smirking. "What potion _did_ you use, Hermione? He's like a puppy, eager to please his owner or something. What happened to the twitchy, cowardly, mudblood-hating ferret?"

"I think something is up," Hermione muttered. "He's got a plan cooking. It's got something to do with the dare. I just know it. But I'm going to let him think it's working."

"Or maybe," Lavender whispered in her ear, "He just fancies you."

Hermione ignored her. "I got it!" She said.

Parviti slid off Hermione's bed. "What does it say?"

Hermione frowned. "It's kind of blurry through the snow... The first word is... 'I'... 'must'...'be'...a... 'snow'...'ball'? No. It says 'Flake'...'before'... no, I mean.... 'because'... 'I've'....'Fallen'...."

"FOR YOU!" Lavender shrieked. "Did you get that, Ginny?"

Ginny was scribbling down what Hermione's was saying and squinted at her writing. "I must be a snowflake because I've fallen for you." She said triumphantly.

There was a silence.

"What is he, the Mr. Pick-up lines?" Snorted Hermione.

"That's so...cheesy, sweet, but cheesy," Lavender sighed. "I thought he was like, Mr. Bad Boy or something and would just go straight out and say, 'I love you, now get down here so I can bully you again'."

"Like I said," Hermione said, "He's up to something. I have to find out what."

* * *

Hermione wasn't surprised when a tawny owl dropped a parcel and a letter in front of her during breakfast.

"Oh my!" Fred exclaimed, clapping a hand to his mouth, "Hermione has a secret admirer!"

"Not so secret," Hermione muttered under her breath. She saw Draco looking at her from the Slytherin table. There was a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

George stole a piece of toast from her plate, munching on it. "Open it up!"

Harry and Ron looked at each other, shrugged, and grabbed the envelope and parcel. Hermione didn't seem to care one bit that her friends were opening HER present, but she was a little curious as to what was inside.

"Open the present first!" Hermione said, leaning over with Fred and George hovering by like a pair of annoying flies.

Ron tugged at the wrappings, his face red from the exertion. "Can't-must have a spell on it or something."

Harry was likewise furiously stabbing the envelope with his butter knife. "This envelope is spelled too-can't crack the seal."

Hermione sighed, "Pass them over, I'll open it."

As soon as the present touched her hands, the ribbon started unravelling and the wrappings fell away, like a rose blooming as the layers of the wrapping paper peeled itself off the box inside.

Frowning, Hermione picked up the box and gave it a gentle shake. There was something heavy inside, something that felt expensive. Fred grabbed it from her and prised the box open.

"Wow," Fred said in mock-amazement. "This is, like, the best present ever!"

George frowned as he peered inside. "Was darkness sellable?" He asked.

Hermione snatched the box from Fred, and looked inside. Inside there was....nothing. Hermione opened the box from the other side, and looked in it, she could only see Fred's grinning face.

"But it seems so heavy..." Hermione murmured. She closed the box. "Must be a hoax."

"But," Harry glanced over at Draco, who was pretending to be absorbed chewing over a grape over and over again, "It must mean something. Read the letter."

Hermione cracked the seal effortlessly (Harry harrumphed; "She's so not stronger than me," He told Fred and George, who were snickering.) and unfolded the letter.

_"Dear Hermione_

_Have a Happy Day and I hope you like this present. I hope it's what you wished for._

_From_

_Your secret admirer."_

Ron tilted his head to one side, staring at the innocent-looking, empty box. "Come to think of it," he said slowly, "I've seen one of those boxes before. That pattern on the box seems like a series of runes, doesn't it?"

Hermione looked at the exterior of the box carefully, "you're right, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, "It's some runes to make sure the magic of the box wears off after a set amount of time! Give me a second."

She read the Runes, turning the box the right way up and muttered feverishly under her breath as she translated the Runes. "The magic lasts for twelve hours," she told them, "It starts from when the box was opened."

"So?" Harry asked, "What's the magic? What the heck is this empty box for?"

Hermione grinned, "the answer's in the letter, Harry. 'I hope it's what you WISHED for'. Figure it out,"

Harry grumbled under his breath, Hermione made him feel like a primary kid. Beside him, Ron was gaping and his mouth was opening and closing as he tried to make words out of it.

"But it's so bloody expensive!" Ron breathed, "I saw it being advertised in the Daily Prophet recently, just getting the simplest one costs a thousand galleons! And this one-judging from its size-is definitely NOT the simplest one."

"It's the middle one," Hermione said, smiling widely. Harry was still looking from Hermione to Ron, confused. "Can someone explain to me what the hell that box is?" He said impatiently.

Fred dumped today's issue of the Daily Prophet in front of him. "Be a good boy and read," he said sweetly, "while George and I finish your bacon."

Harry passed them his plate and flipped to the advertisements page. His eyes fell on the biggest column. "Oh, my... He gave you THIS?"

_NEW IN STOCK!_

_Just invented in Africa, and almost immediatlely imported to Britain, the WISH BOX comes in three types: simple, middle, and deluxe. Its name speaks all, yup, this box is a box that grants wishes!_

_The simple box can grant small things, including limited money (up to a nine hundred galleons), limited merchandise that is currently on shelves, and limited food (only food that can be found locally)._

_The middle box can grant more: money (limited to two thousand galleons), merchandise that is no longer on shelves, food (from all around the world), plus you can wish for somebody to appear (has to be living) beside you-with the exception of people in Azkaban, of course._

_The Deluxe edition can grand even more wishes! We will not disclose any information about this edition because it is still working on the glitches (we're working so it's still legal for some wishes)_

_WANT THAT SPECIAL PRESENT TO GIVE TO THAT SPECIAL PERSON?_

_ORDER NOW!_

_Note: Box can only grant two wishes._

"What are you going to wish for?" Ron's eyes gleamed at the choices. "Money? Food? Cool items?"

"Nothing." Hermione answered simply. "There'd be a time that I'll want to use it for emergencies and I don't want to end up regretting using them both up."

Ron groaned. "Man, Hermione!"

Hermione glanced at the Slytherin table, where Draco finally stopped pretending to eat his grape. Their eyes met and she smiled. "Thanks," she mouthed.

Draco shrugged, giving a look that said, 'that was nothing if it was for you'.

George and Fred gagged at his look.

* * *

Draco hummed happily to himself, with Goyle and Crabbe staring at him as they made their way to the library. First class was self study class, and Draco wanted to do more research on potions and spells that would make Ron look U.G.L.Y.

Hermione totally bought the whole 'I fancy you' thing. He knew it was a good idea to order that box. She was starting to warm up against him. Turns out Pothead and Weasel had a sneaky plan themselves, Blaise told him all about it afterwards. They actually thought he fancied Hermione!

How-

-True.

Ugh.

He shook his head. Yes, he liked Hermione, but the plan was more important. Get Hermione to fall for him (which included eliminating possible rivals: Ronald Weasley)-pretend (or not) to like her back-go out on the day Lust was to be committed-break up with her-she'll be so sad that she'll not commit it-Galleons and pride won.

Brilliant plan.

He strode into the library and went to his usual secluded spot in the library-between the shelves 'Spells for Makeovers' and 'Fun pranks'. He had not realised somebody was already sitting there.

Yep, Hermione Granger had self-study class too.

"Researching something?" She asked coolly.

"No," Draco said shortly. Silently he was yelling at her to go away so he could research-but he was smiling innocently at her on the outside.

"I'll cut the chase," Hermione said. She sighed and placed her book down. "What are you up to?"

Draco blinked. Was the plan too obvious? He thought worriedly, or did he accidentally let slip something?

"Er-no, of course not."

"The presents? The corny pick up lines-" Draco winced, "-the looks you're giving me? I know that something's going on, Malfoy. Ron says you fancy me, I thought so too, until this morning." She looked up and stared into his eyes. "Spill."

Draco stared right back, if this was a battle between who was backing down first, he'd win it for sure. "What makes you think that I have a plan?" He asked, sitting down beside her, still maintaining eye contact.

"I thought there was no plan until this morning. I thought the pick-up lines and the present yesterday was genuine, but the message made of snow? I don't think it's something _you'd_ do to somebody you fancy. It might be something Blaise does, but not you."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "People surprise others sometimes," he said slowly, "apart from my name and some obvious details, you don't know me at all. Why can't somebody like me send a message via snow?"

"Because," Hermione said, "Such a sweet little thing isn't like you."

"Are you saying I'm not sweet? Incapable of being a romantic?" Draco accused.

Hermione smiled. "That's it."

Draco huffed. "Well then, get to know me better."

"Wh-what?"

"It's obvious you don't know me at all. So why don't we take the time-now- to get to know each other better?" Draco silently patted himself on the back. It was an excellent idea.

Hermione eyed him warily. "Before that, prove that you fancy me then. If this is just part of your stupid plan-then forget it."

Draco started sweating. How can ANYBODY prove that they fancied somebody? It was absurd. "How?"

"Take this simple quiz." Hermione managed to make a magazine appear and slid it across to him.

Draco looked at the cover. "What kind of magazine is this?"

"A muggle one-see? The pictures don't move."

"Oh yeah."

"Write your answers on the parchment and then I'll match it up to the results," Hermione ordered.

Draco got out his quill and started the quiz, he felt like he was doing an exam, with Hermione looking at him amusingly.

_QUESTION ONE:_

_What is your current relationship with him/her?_

_-Strangers  
-Friends  
-Acquaintances_

Draco wrote down 'Acquaintances'.

_QUESTION TWO:_

_Where do you usually look when talking to her?_

_-Her Chest  
-Her eyes/Face  
-Wait/below_

He looked up at her. 'Face' he wrote down. This quiz was easy-you could tell which answers to write down and what not to. It was easy to fluke.

The questions were similar to the ones before, where it was obvious which answers corresponded to what type of results. Draco didn't even think when he wrote down the answers.

In just under thirty seconds, he passed both the magazine and the parchment back to her. "Match 'em up."

Hermione smiled at him. It was a knowing smile. Draco shuddered.

"The results say you one hundred percent like me." Hermione concluded, tearing up the parchment.

She saw Draco smirk at that. "So," he started, "how about that 'getting to know each other better' thingy, eh?"

Hermione flashed him a smile, "Tomorrow, then. Meet me after dinner outside the Hall."

Draco nodded. "Fine. That was exactly what I was thinking of."

* * *

Hermione walked out the library, that knowing smile still plastered on her face.

Draco did not fancy her.

What Hermione was looking for was not matching up the results, but how Draco completed the quiz. He was whizzing through them, not thinking about the answers, not recalling anything. He was trying to make sure he got 100% on the quiz.

Well, he failed.

She'd let him carry on with his plan. No doubt he had something to do with Lust. He'd think he won, but at the last minute she'll retaliate and pretend that she lusted after him. Fred and George's potion was seated snugly in her pocket right now. She was dreading tomorrow, but then it'd finally be over.

Hermione had noted where he normally sat when Draco was in the library. She noticed that he went more and more often, not realising she was sitting in plain view all this time. She noticed that he sat in the same spot each time, and pulled out books from the same shelves. Hermione could put two and two together.

"Lavender!" Hermione hissed, seeing her walking towards the library. "I need help for tomorrow."

"Why?" She asked suspiciously. "You going on a date or something?"

Hermione nodded and Lavender gave a shriek.

"With Draco Malfoy?"

Another nod.

"OH MY...MERLIN'S SAGGY Y-FRONTS!" Lavender squealed. "He asked you out?"

Nod.

"In a way," Hermione answered. Lavender was jumping up and down. "I never knew you fancied him back!"

Hermione grimaced. She didn't want to tell her the plan, and that minor detail that she didn't really like Draco.

"Actually," Lavender said thoughtfully. "It's kinda obvious now. You always stare at him during Potions, even before the whole dare thing started."

"I did not!" Hermione retorted angrily.

"Don't lie," she said in a sing-song voice. "Even Harry said you were looking at him-that was the reason he persuaded Ron to stop the whole plan thing. He said that he disliked Malfoy, but if you liked him, there was nothing he could do. He didn't want Malfoy to hate you!"

Hermione gaped. "Harry... thought he knew?"

"Of course! And what do you mean 'thought'?" Lavender asked.

"I don't really like him," Hermione whispered, glancing back at the library. "He's a ferret-"

"Your face goes red around him." Lavender said flatly, obviously losing patience. "Your face is flushed right now, I'd give anything to bet that you just talked to him and he's still in that library."

Hermione placed a hand on her face. "I'm... red?"

"My god, yes!" Lavender sighed. "You like him, he likes you. You're going on a date? Hello?"

Hermione walked away, her head buzzing. She needed time to process this information.

It couldn't be... could it?

Lavender watched her go with a smirk on her face. She shook her head, Hermione was smart-book wise. In the relationship department, Hermione was just an amateur.

* * *

Professor McGonagall suddenly flung open her door to her classroom and pulled Hermione in.

"You've got Pride to commit," She whispered to Hermione, who was still red in the face. "This one is easy, I'll help you, Granger. Albus just said that he'll add in a special treat for everyone if he wins the bet."

"Er-"

McGonagall slammed the door shut and half dragged Hermione towards the front of the class. It was a class full of first years.

"Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, Hermione Granger here is going to help you tie up your shoes."

Hermione stared at McGonagall as if she was off her rocker.

"I-What?" She spluttered. "Why?"

"Because," McGonagall said, winking, "I said so."

Hermione snapped out of her confused daze and caught on. "Oh. Really? You want me to kneel down and tie up their shoes?"

"Yes, that's right."

"No."

The whole class drew in their breath. First years tend to be scared of McGonagall. Disobeying the stern teacher mean certain punishments, that they knew.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no," Hermione repeated. "No means no. I shan't do this-despicable job."

"Is this pride?" McGonagall bent down, her whisper carrying to the other side of the classroom. "Is your pride not allowing you to do this?"

Hermione caught sight of Harry and Ron's feet poking out from under the Invisibility Cloak. They were standing beside McGonagall, with their backs pressed against the blackboard.

"Yes." Hermione said clearly. "I won't do it. Call me proud or anything you like, professor. But I'm a person with dignity."

"Did you hear that?" Barked McGonagall at her class. They coiled up, Hermione swore that she saw one close to tears.

"Yes Professor," they chorused.

"Good. Mark that off, Potter." Harry and Ron stepped out from under their cloak. "Sure thing, Professor," Harry grinned, crossing pride off.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. That was another sin committed. Thank God. She had enough things on her plate right now. The dare had been forgotten.

"Thank you," Hermione nodded to McGonagall, who gave a curt nod back. "Let's go."

Harry and Ron trailed out after her, both grinning madly.

Hermione wondered whether it was her pride that stopped her from embracing the fact that she liked Draco?

Puzzles. She loved and hated them at the same time.

* * *

Leaving Harry and Ron behind in the common room, Hermione unlocked her trunk and got out the Wish Box.

She opened it up and whispered, "I wish to know whether I like Malfoy and whether he likes me."

It was stupid wish, Ron would say. But Hermione was desperate. She needed guidance. One moment she thinks she MIGHT fancy him, the next she wasn't so sure.

The box gave a shiver and Hermione distinctively heard a thunk sound coming from it. She peered in and noticed a small handheld mirror along with an instruction manual. Gingerly, she lifted the mirror out and unfolded the instruction sheet.

"Look into the mirror and you shall see the person who your heart desires. How corny," Hermione muttered.

But she lifted the mirror up and gazed into it. At first all she saw was her own reflection, but then it swirled out of focus.

Hermione waited.

At last she saw the mirror's image come slowly into view. She eagerly looked at, hungry for information.

The first thing she saw was the blonde hair. She put it down, chewing on her lip.

Well, that simplified things a bit, she thought. So, she liked him apparently.

The question was, did he like her back?

* * *

Hermione waited until after dinner before walking up to him. "Hi Malfoy," she said brightly.

Immediately Draco narrowed his eyes, suspicious. "Er-hi?"

"You have, er, a chunk of hair stuck on your forehead." Hermione lied. She got out the mirror and waved it in front of him. "You might want to get rid of it."

Draco looked into the mirror. "There's nothing on my forehead," he asked, looking at her weirdly. "What are you playing at, Granger?"

Then he realised he was supposed to 'like' her. "I mean, are you feeling okay?" He corrected himself.

Hermione cleared her throat. "I'm fine. I think. Just...look into the mirror and tell me what you see."

Draco wondered whether the mirror would suck him in or something. He stepped back.

"Please." Hermione looked at him pleadingly.

Draco sighed. He took the mirror and looked into it again. To his surprise, his reflection went out of focus. "What's happening?" He asked her, "What does this mirror show?"

She just looked at him and the mirror, obviously looking for something to happen.

The image cleared.

"Well?" Hermione asked. "What do you see?"

Draco swallowed. "Tell me what this mirror shows," he asked urgently.

Hermione looked at him and passed him the manual without a word.

Draco inhaled sharply. It couldn't be...

"What do you see?" Hermione repeated. "Tell me, please."

He looked up at her, a blush forming on his pale cheeks.

"I see...you?"


	8. Chapter 8: Lust

**A/N: YAY another chapter up!**

**And before you guys ask, no, this isn't the last chapter. I felt that if it was, it would be too abrupt, and the ending would be crap. So I think the next chapter would be the last. (Or I might split it up into two chapters, depending on the length)**

**Please review-they are much appreciated.**

* * *

**Chapter eight: Lust**

Draco started laughing. "Just joking," he sniggered. Hermione looked at him with a mixture of emotions-horror being one of them. Fury was another.

How could he lie about something like this? How _could _he? Did he not know how serious she was?

When he had told her he had seen her face in the mirror, she felt relieved that she was not heading down a hard one-way street, she then felt confused-she knew that Draco liked her but thought it was just a phase he was going through, and then she felt amusement, because, seriously, a pure-blood Slytherin liked the Mudblood from Gryffindor? And then she felt... somehow disappointed.

She couldn't explain it. She obviously liked him, and the mirror told him that he liked her back, so why did she felt disappointed?

And then Draco gives her a few moments for all these emotions to come whirling inside her before he told her he had lied. How despicable.

"Tell the truth," Hermione demanded, cold fury rising up in her like bile. "Did you, or did you not, see my face in that mirror?"

Draco looked at the mirror, which was safely out of Hermione's view. "I didn't see your face okay? I thought it'd be funny." He smirked, then thrust the mirror back into Hermione's shaking hands.

"We're still on tomorrow night right, Granger?" He asked, walking away. He didn't wait for an answer before he disappeared among the crowd, leaving Hermione clutching the mirror staring at his retreating back.

Lavender, Harry and the mirror told her she liked Draco Malfoy, but right now all she could feel was anger. Anger and hate. Were all these emotions linked to the so-called best feeling in the world –'love'? If so, she hated it. She'd rather be void of all these confusing feelings than get a small taste of what love felt like.

It just wasn't worth it.

* * *

Draco dropped his smirk when he threaded his way around people. His face was still flushed-it felt as if his cheeks were on fire. His ears were too-he could feel it.

The image of Hermione Granger, with her bushy hair and all appearing slowly into focus on the mirror burned into his mind. The mirror showed who he liked. And mirrors like that never lied-in fact, they were honest. Too honest.

He didn't know why he lied, he immediately saw the reaction on Hermione's face after he told her he didn't see her face in the mirror. But he did not regret his actions. Make her think he was just playing around with her. Make her think that liking her was just a joke, a phase he'd grow out of.

He would follow through with his plan, right up to the last step. He had already managed to spike Ron's pumpkin juice with the potion that he'd just finished brewing, and the box of chocolate frogs containing a double dose of another potion would have arrived, on Ron's bed, before he went to sleep. He was sure Ron would eat it, Draco hoped he'd share the frogs with Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor boys.

He had an excuse to the Slytherins for being nice to Hermione Granger, people had been giving him disproving looks and once, Blaise and Nott had pulled him aside and demanded him to 'snap out of it'.

Once he revealed his plan to them, they would approve of it, definitely, and forgive him. But if he'd told them that he had discovered that he did, indeed, liked Hermione, they would never let that down. They would tell his mother-or worse, his father.

If Draco had not told Hermione that he'd 'lied', Blaise and Nott would have caught wind of the mirror and what it showed, and within the hour, an owl would be making its way to Malfoy Manor. Merlin knew what his father would do.

But Draco wasn't worried about himself.

His father would, if worst comes to the worst, merely confiscate Draco's access to his vault and refuse to give him money and then monitor Draco's letters and his conversations via the Floo network. That was it.

But his father would not hesitate one bit to punish Hermione, even though it was not her fault. Hermione Granger was a Gryffindor, and worse still, a mudblood. This was something Draco's father would not tolerate.

Draco reached his common room, muttered the password glumly and headed to the dormitories. But it would be some time yet before he fully fell asleep.

He just hoped tomorrow would come and go as quickly as possible. He hoped that his plan would not fail. He hoped that Blaise and Nott would fall for his 'excuse' for being nice to Hermione. He hoped Hermione would be so angry at him she'd hate him-and forget that she ever liked him.

He hoped.

* * *

Hermione stormed up to the Gryffindor tower, positively snarled at the Fat Lady, banged the Portrait shut and stomped up to bed.

How dare he?

She ignored the curious looks from Parviti and Lavender, pulled the covers over her head and tried concentrating on what she was to do for tomorrow.

She gave him a chance. She called the plan off. And now he decided to play with her emotions.

Hermione breathed deeply and tried to calm herself down. It was not like her to be blinded by fury, maybe it came along with the 'liking someone' package. If so, she wished the next time they would just drop the freebies and concentrate on the 'like/love' emotion-nothing else.

Tomorrow she would drink that potion for dinner, meet up with him as they agreed to (she wondered whether he would still attend the Hermione Granger Sucks club's last meeting-people did join for the money after all), and then-then what?

She turned over, it was no good-her heart had taken over her head.

She sighed, got up and opened the velvet box that contained the diamond necklace Draco had given her just days ago-it seemed like an eternity. The spell had caused the diamonds to glitter with bright, warm colours as well as the soothing colours of blue and purple and green. She slipped the necklace on and immediately felt the weight on her shoulder lift. The spell made her head clearer. There, she could think.

The necklace's charm made her see things in a different light. She remembered the way his face and ears grew red as he saw the image in the mirror, she noted how he glanced quickly up at her curious face. But most of all, she saw now how forced his words were, how much effort he had used to muster a smirk and wait away nonchalantly. He was hiding something, something he didn't want her to know. Whoever that image was of, it showed someone that either embarrassed him, or would bring trouble.

She decided then, that she'd still drink up the potion, pretend to commit lust, then apologise to Draco afterwards for the act. Maybe he'd accept it, maybe he won't. But Hermione knew that whatever his reaction was, whatever his reason for him to lie to her, she would forgive him.

Forgive and Forget. Those were the fundamental requirements that would make her a better person. She hoped, anyway. Draco Malfoy, underneath his arrogance, his need to flaunt his wealth, his stupid need to boast, his ability to humiliate people, his ugly attitude towards animals and those that weren't pureblood, he was a good person. She just needed to dig deep enough to find that.

The diamond necklace was hidden from view as she pulled her blankets over her body again. It was a precious and valuable piece of jwelery, but Hermione needed it with her tonight. She needed to feel its hard, cool surface. She liked the pleasant feeling it brought upon her.

* * *

The next morning, Hermione woke to the sounds of Lavender and Parviti exclaiming at something.

"What is it?" She asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes, the necklace swaying around her neck.

"We saw something on the notice board," Parviti said mysteriously. "Something really awesome."

Hermione blinked. "Er-The dare was to be called off?" She asked hopefully.

Lavender rolled her eyes, "Of course not, Dumbledore and most of the teachers are all for it, remember? No, this 'something' has something to do with the dare, sort of, but not really at the same time."

Now Hermione was listening. She waited for Parviti or Lavender to tell her what exactly that 'something' was.

"We're having a school trip!" They exclaimed together.

Hermione stared. "A...school trip?"

"Yes!" Lavender gushed, "A trip to the most expensive, best ever, magical cruise!"

"Cruise? Magical?" Hermione asked blankly. "What's so magical about this cruise? And what does it have to do with the dare?"

"Well," Parviti sighed, "We go on to the cruise on one condition: you have to complete the dare. Apparently he's been planning this ever since he caught wind of the dare, and nearly everyone's guardians have given their children permission to go."

Hermione wondered whether the Dursley's would let Harry go. But then she remembered that Sirius was Harry's godfather, and his opinions would matter too.

"The cruise isn't the kind of muggle ones where you travel on the sea," Lavender explained. "We will be embarking on a ship, shaped like those, but we'll be flying in the sky. The trip-" She glanced down at the piece of parchment in her hand, "-will last just two days and one night, if you complete the dare, of course. The ship will arrive at Hogwarts early tomorrow, and we'll spend tomorrow and the day after on the ship, apparently we won't be landing during the cruise, because the main event is to explore the ship and use its facilities."

Hermione tried to let all this information sink in. "So, basically, now everyone wants me to complete the dare?"

"YES!" The two girls shouted. "Oh please Hermione, complete the dare, it's just lust... you have that potion Fred and George gave to you..."

Hermione sighed. "I'll try," she said.

She hoped Draco wouldn't mind if she made a total fool out of herself and him. Lavender and Parviti made her promise she'll try the potion at breakfast instead, that way she'll have plenty more opportunities should she mess up.

* * *

Hermione went to breakfast alone. Harry and Ron were rushed to the hospital wing because they had somehow ended up with shaved heads and moving moles on their faces, along with the additional weight they had to carry around; their heads were now twice as big as before. They couldn't even walk properly, Seamus and Dean had to levitate them to Madam Pomfrey.

She took a deep breath, added the potion into her goblet and drank the whole thing in one gulp.

She wondered how she would act. She hoped it was enough, but not overboard.

Draco came waltzing in with Goyle and Crabbe, as usual. He looked somehow tired-but he still fired snide comments at people.

Hermione exhaled deeply then stood up and headed towards the Slytherin table. Harry and Ron were not here to witness it, but Dumbledore was. Fred and George had decided to add Dumbledore as the third judge, because, let's face it, they wanted to go onto the cruise as well. Everybody did.

Hermione was positive every eye was on her as she slid down onto the spot beside Draco. Everybody knew that she had taken the potion Fred and George invented. They knew it was cheating, but they couldn't care less.

Meanwhile Draco watched Hermione as she looked at him with gooey eyes, reminding him strongly of Pansy. He didn't know how to act. He was going to think of that later, because he thought she'd try and commit lust after dinner.

But desperate times called for desperate measures, he thought, after all, even the Slytherins told him that Hermione was bound to commit lust for him, and said that he should just go along with it.

What was a couple of galleons, they said, if we could go onto that cruise that not even a millionaire could buy? That cruise required both power and money, not to mention connections. Dumbledore had them all. Many Slytherins did not.

So as Hermione stroke his arm up and down, he repressed his shudder as best as he could, trying not to yell at her to stop or shake her hand off. Instead, he imagined Hermione as Pansy, because this was something Pansy would do, not Hermione. It would make him less confused at least. He could feel himself blushing as everybody-even the teachers, were staring at them, all waiting for Dumbledore, or even Harry and Ron who were still at the hospital to say the magic words.

But the headmaster was too absorbed in his oatmeal.

Hermione moved closer to him, and started whispering things that Draco was really sure she would never even have thought of, if not for the potion. He grimaced and tried to block her voice out. He glanced desperately at the teacher's table.

Dumbledore studied his spoonful of the oatmeal, nodded to himself and ate another mouthful.

Hermione edged closer to him, and turned his face towards her so that their noses were practically touching. Draco watched as Blaise and Nott were laughing silently as Hermione stared into his unwilling eyes.

She was going to kiss him.

He had to escape. He had to.

Finally Dumbledore sighed happily at his breakfast, looked up and noticed what was going on-or maybe he decided that things should stay K rated for the first years, and not T rated.

"Hermione Granger has committed lust," He said importantly. He summoned the parchment and crossed off the last sin.

Everybody in the hall stood up and started cheering. They were all going on that cruise! Who cared if they lost a bit of money? Even the second year who accused Hermione of being boring was grinning from ear to ear.

The dare was complete. Hermione had won.

But the fun had yet to begin.

Somebody-she presumed one of the twins- feed her the antidote and she came out of her trance, not knowing what had happened that made Draco look at her with fright.

"I'm sorry," she apologised. "But you were the only one who I could commit the sins to-or pretend to anyway."

Draco did not answer. He just looked at her.

Inside, his mind was in turmoil. Half of him was yelling out that he should say something nice back, that he should tell her that he liked her, that he saw her face in the mirror, that half of him urged him to ask the dreaded question: Did Hermione like him back?

But the other, more reasonable side of him was telling him to be aware of what his father might do. His father would understand why Draco acted as if he liked Hermione for the sake of winning the bet (and, for the last sin, why he did not curse her). But if Draco admitted his feelings, Hermione would definitely be hurt.

So he just smirked. That was his shield.

"Why?" He asked, "I know Pothead and Weasel aren't the best candidates for today, but I'm sure that giant-oaf would have surely agreed to."

Hermione stood up angrily. "You know that Hagrid is a teacher, Malfoy," She said. "He deserves some respect, even from you." She stalked away.

Draco watched her go, he thought about his hopes last night.

Perhaps, for the sake of protecting Hermione, he should let her go.

* * *

They were given their passes for the cruise. It had their photo (Hermione's photo was blinking blankly) on it, along with their house, age and name, along with their status-Hermione was a prefect.

It was decided that they had a choice of whether they wanted to share a room with another person, or have a room on their own. Hermione and Ginny decided to room together, as they both felt that the cruise should be enjoyed with friends, not alone.

They could bring some things along, if they wanted. Wands were allowed, of course, but clothes apparently weren't necessary. Neither was other necessities and medications, but if they wanted to bring along their own dress robes, they could.

Ginny and Hermione did not own dress robes, so they hoped that the ship did. There were several formal events on the ship which required the dress robes, events that they both wanted to participate in.

All Hermione brought along was the diamond necklace, Crookshanks (who, for the duration of the dare, had been living at Hagrid's because he seemed to sense that he was unwanted and Hermione had enough on her plate), Crookshank's fur-grooming kit (present from Draco Malfoy) and his favourite treat, her own hair-grooming kit (another present-remember Anger?), the small unwrapped gift that was also given by Draco, the wish box (one wish remaining) and her wand.

She couldn't wait. She'd never been on a muggle cruise before, let alone being on a ship that travelled in the sky and was as close to the stars than she'll ever be.

It was going to be a memorable trip alright.

* * *

The only person who was not happy at the turn of events was Pansy Parkinson. Seeing Hermione curl up again Draco (even if it was the potion making her act that way) was the last straw. She seethed in anger and planned her revenge.

While others around her were packing and choosing their best dress robes to take along with them, Pansy sat down in the common room and dipped a quill into the ink bottle, thinking what she should write.

At last she found the words she wanted to write.

She was going to make Hermione Granger pay.

* * *

The owl stretched out its leg and Lucius Malfoy untied the small envelope. Frowning slightly at the smell of the perfume that oozed out of the envelope, he opened it and unfolded the letter. He saw the wax seal on the envelope and recognised immediately as a letter from the Parkinson family, this was, no doubt, a letter that contained important news.

_Dear Mr. Malfoy,_

_I am writing to inform you of the most urgent matter. I am Pansy Parkinson, Slytherin pureblood, Draco's girlfriend. I have currently noticed that Draco, instead of being a faithful boyfriend and Slytherin, has taken an interest in Hermione Granger, whom, I no doubt, you know very much about. She has been flaunting in front of him, and, please permit me to write this, he has foolishly stepped into the trap she has woven around him. He no longer cares that he outwardly and very publicly shows that he has taken a fancy to the girl. He buys her expensive gifts, shower her with compliments-and more._

_I am positive that you would not tolerate such behaviour from your son, who I am sure will realise his mistake and will return to my side once more. But I'm afraid that he might be too deep into her trap to be able to return to where he was: a respectable Slytherin, a Malfoy who did not mess around with lower beings such as mudbloods._

_Please, help him._

_Yours sincerely,  
Pansy Parkinson._

His fingers were trembling as he read the letter over and over again. He didn't even pause for one second before storming to his fireplace.

He threw in some Floo powder and demanded to talk to Albus Dumbledore.

* * *

Draco was just about finished packing when Snape pulled his drawings to one side and told him the news.

Draco Malfoy was not allowed onto the cruise.

* * *

**A/N: Like the cruise idea? This idea (and most of the plot ideas for this story) were not planned, they just popped out as I write. If truth be told, I had no idea where this story was going when I was typing up the first two chapters. The story just flowed, and so if this story seems to not add up, or if it feels that things are out of place or just plain random, I'm sorry. This story was supposed be short and have not much of a plot. Anyway, enjoy and wait for the finale!**


	9. Chapter 9: The Cruise

**A/N: Yay! Last chapter! Thanks to all of you that reviewed!!! Your reviews made me have the motivation to continue and end this story!!!**

* * *

**Chapter nine: The Cruise**

Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny all stared from the Gryffindor Common Room window as they saw the magnificent ship land. The Qudditch pitch had been cleared and somebody (Hagrid, they assumed) had painted a bright red cross on the grass.

The ship was huge. No, humungous.

It was white, dazzling white with a strip of blue around its body. A large picture was painted on each side, and, to the amazement of Harry, this picture kept changing. First they saw a simple gold crown worn by a face-less maiden, then it blurred into two wands that was encircled by a rainbow, now that picture slowly disappeared and a wizard bowed at them, his hand sweeping his pointed hat off as he did so.

To their surprise, the wizard opened his mouth and started shouting, "Fellow wizards and witches, the Aphrodite is here! Prepare to embark! Fellow wizards and witches..."

"Guess that means we better go downstairs," Harry told the others. They nodded and gathered up their things. Hermione brought along a small purse which she magically enlarged to put all her things in then shrank it. Ginny brought nothing along save her wand, Harry brought his broomstick, which he somehow managed to persuade Hermione to put it in her purse, and Ron brought his new broomstick along too, but he was holding it himself-he was determined to show it off in front of everybody.

Crookshanks trotted off after them. Hermione trusted him not to wander off. She wanted to shut him in his cage, but he yowled so piteously that she relented. She heard that there was an Animal Centre where pets would be looked after. She didn't want Crookshanks to miss out on all the fun.

* * *

They headed outside and walked towards the ship. It seemed that the whole school had beat them to it, though, Professor McGonagall had forced them all to line up in a single line, and they were only about a few feet from the entrance doors. The only good thing about being so far behind was that they were able to see what was going on because of the slight slope.

"Show them your passes!" The Transfiguration teacher bellowed at them, her hat askew as she tried to drag two students who had pushed into the line away. "Line up properly!"

Hermione saw people already heading inside the ship. From what she could see, the ramp led them into a bright room that seemed to have a chandelier dangling from the ceiling. The little lights flickered different colours as each person passed under it. Hermione suspected it had something to do with security measures, because each time the lights on the chandelier turned an angry red, that student was pulled aside and searched.

Hermione hung her pass around her neck and clutched her purse closer towards her. This was her first time on any ship, let alone a magic one. Though this trip only lasted for two days, she knew that this was going to be a memorable experience.

They slowly edged closer and closer towards the ship. The sky was brightening by then-the morning sun shone on their faces as they impatiently hopped from one foot to the other, waiting for their turn.

At last they stepped into the ship, all of them passed under the chandelier without it turning red. As they were taken to their rooms by a friendly attendant, they gazed open mouthed at the interior of the ship.

The ship's lobby, or the main storey where all the main restaurants and shops were was situated right in the middle of the ship. As they stood staring up, they could see the railings to up to ten storeys high. It seemed all the storeys above the lobby surrounded the main middle part of the lobby, where a grand piano played songs at request, even though nobody was actually playing it.

Hermione's and Ginny's room was on the fifth storey, on the starboard side. Their room faced outwards, and had a nice, large rectangular window in the lounge that overlooked the Hogwarts castle. It really couldn't be called just a room-it was more like a suite, where there were two bedrooms, a small lounge, two bathrooms and even a small fireplace where a pot of floo powder stood on the mantle.

All this information Hermione found on the pamphlet that the nice attendant-whose name was John Keithstone, had given to them, along with their room's password.

John tactfully allowed them to push open the large, double-door with their names engraved in gold lettering on it. As Ginny led the way in, Hermione noticed two small letterboxes on each side of the door, in both of theirs a white envelope was already sitting inside it. Hermione nudged Ginny and they grabbed their own letters from their letterboxes, but at a small shake of John's head, they decided to open it later.

With Hermione trailing behind, they entered the room. A sweet scent of roses drifted to Hermione's nose, which she inhaled deeply and her body immediately relaxed. Ginny, on the other hand, smelt mint and a hint of lavender, but that suited her just fine.

"The air refresher is spelled so that the fragrance is to the user's preference," John explained, "As the two of you have different preferences, you both smell different scents. The air refresher will change accordingly to suit the weather, atmosphere or your moods-whichever it feels suits best for you."

They were in a short hallway, where two shoe cupboards sat on the two sides, leaning against the warm orange and yellow wallpaper. The left cupboard had Hermione's name written on it, and the other bore Ginny's name. Astounded, they saw their own shoe cupboard's door slowly open, where shoes of every kind were revealed as the light crept in.

"I'm afraid we have a policy on this ship," John said, "and that is that you wear slippers inside your rooms. It makes it easier to clean and more comfortable for you."

Hermione watched as John demonstrated on how to use the shoe cupboard, he took his own shoes off and placed them on top of Ginny's cupboard, immediately his shoes disappeared and a pair of comfy slippers appeared in place of his shoes.

The two girls followed suit, and soon all three of them wore matching fluffy slippers. They headed down the narrow hallway and into the lounge, where the curtains slowly pulled themselves away to let the morning sun shine in. The curtains seemed to shimmer and change colour, pattern and even texture.

"It is unsure of what colour to change to right now, because there are three of us," John explained. "Soon it will settle on a colour that fits all of us-there, it's now a peachy-cream colour."

Sure enough, the curtain stopped changing and settled to a light cream peachy colour that matched well with the orange yellow wall paper. Large swirls and curls began forming on the curtain, the same colour as the background, but of a lighter shade. The curtain shortened and pushed itself against the sides of the window, so that the gold tassel could wound itself around the curtain, holding it steadily in place.

The carpet started changing too-But John told them that the carpet, unlike the air refresher and the curtains and the wall paper, would only change just the once for their journey. After three trials, Hermione and Ginny finally agreed on a carpet that was plain and a warm orange-red colour. They decided that they liked the warm-autumn theme and wanted the room to stay that way.

They stepped fully into the lounge and surveyed their surroundings. Two armchairs and one longer sofa surrounded a rectangular wooden coffee table, and they all faced the fireplace. There was a long rug that stretched out under the table, under the sofa and armchairs- a nice oriental rug.

Two bookshelves were lined against the wall behind the armchairs, and at a closer inspection, Hermione saw that it contained both muggle and magic books that repeatedly kept changing accordingly to her mood. It was fascinating. She noticed that the shelves now held countless books about this ship, and the places they were going to see and also the star constellations that, hopefully, they would be able to view. Hermione's hands were itching to start reading, but she knew that the books should wait.

On one side of Hermione's armchair (the nice squashy one where she could prop her feet up and had her name embroidered on it with fancy maroon and gold lettering), there stood a small, circle, wooden table that was just big enough to fit one book and a goblet.

Ginny's armchair had a built in music system where a special shield charm would be activated if she wished to listen to whatever song she requested in peace. Like Hermione's armchair, there was a similar shaped table where she could place a goblet.

"That goblet is spelled to refill when necessary." John demonstrated by picking up Hermione's goblet and muttering, 'pumpkin juice'. To both of their amazement, the orange coloured juice immediately appeared, which John gave to Hermione to drink. "When you want the goblet to be washed, just say, 'wash'" At once, the half-full goblet returned to its place on the table and the pumpkin juice inside it disappeared, a few seconds later, the goblet disappeared too. Hermione swore the goblet appeared shinier when it emerged once again on the table.

"More furniture and things will be added if you wish to, just open the catalogue on the mantle and point your finger to what you want and say, 'I wish to have that'. Then you have fifteen minutes to guide it to where you want it, or else the levitation spell would deactivate and you'll have to try and move it by manually, or by whipping out your wand again."

John led them to the left hand side of the lounge, where a single sofa sat facing a television, which was currently playing 'Friends'- one of Hermione's favourite muggle television programmes. The small area was like another lounge-one that was private. Photos and portraits hung from the walls, and a single, plain lamp stood to one side of the sofa, which was perfect for reading books late at night.

They then returned to the main lounge, where they followed the attendant to the right side of the lounge. This was Ginny's private lounge-it was similar to Hermione's, except it didn't have the television and there was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

It was by looking at the map of their 'room', did Hermione realise that their room was shaped like a 'u' sitting upside down on a 'l'. It really seemed more like a 'T'. The hallway led straight into the u-shaped lounge.

"Your bedrooms and bathrooms can be accessed through your private lounges," John said, gesturing to the two doors on each side that somehow Hermione and Ginny failed to notice the first time. "We have spelled it so that although they are on opposite sides of your room, you can still go into each other's bedroom and join the two bedrooms so that they form one big bedroom if you wish. All you have to do is go into your own bedrooms and say, 'combine' with a tap of your wand on the door that connects the two bedrooms."

Hermione tried not to think how many muggle physic laws this spell broke, because as muggles would know, accessing each other's room through one door even though the two rooms were on different sides was virtually and physically impossible, let alone combining the two rooms into one big one, even though they still entered and exited through the same set of doors. But she supposed that magic wasn't considered when muggle scientists wrote those laws.

"Before I leave, are there any questions?" John looked at them expectantly.

"What do we do after we unpack?" Ginny asked.

"We hope that you'd stay inside your room until you hear the emergency alarm go off. Then you will follow the yellow arrows that will be sent up and you will then go to your designated area. That would be the drill, just in case an emergency occurs-then you'll know where you are supposed to assembly and the quickest way to get there. Your group leader will then tell you the rules of this ship, explain a bit about where we're going and introduce the staff to you. Then you'll be free to explore the ship."

Hermione and Ginny nodded. "We can open those letters now, right?" Hermione asked, holding up the white envelope she'd stuffed into her pocket. John nodded, "those letters inform you of all of today's activities, tonight's shows, a small description of each restaurant, pool, quidditch pitch and shops-but of course you'll know all about that after you've read them. If you need my help just send out red sparks and say my name 'John Keithstone'. I'll be going now, it's nice meeting you, Hermione Granger and Ginev-sorry, Ginny Weasley."

John walked to Ginny's shoe cupboard, placed his slippers on top of it and his shoes appeared once more, which he put on. He shut the door gently behind him.

"Well then," Ginny said, "let's go and check out our bedrooms."

Hermione walked into her private lounge and hesitantly pushed opened the door leading to her bedroom.

Her bedroom was rather small, which was fine because she liked it that way. It held a four poster bed with nice maroon and gold patterned duvet covers (it seemed that she had a fondness for Gryffindor colours), a small round wooden table with two sturdy looking chairs, a bedside table, several picture frames hung from the walls, a bureau, a walk-in closet (already filled with clothes) and the best window.

The window was round-like a porthole. An anchor and life-preserve ring hung from either side of it. Sitting on one of the chairs, Hermione peered outside and noticed that the pinkish-orangey tinge from the sky had been replaced by a glorious blue where several cotton-candy clouds dotted the sky here and there. There were still some people embarking the ship, but most of them were the Hogwart's staff.

It was then she realised that she hadn't seen Draco Malfoy at all. She had seen Goyle, Crabbe, Pansy and the whole of the Slytherin lot, but she did not see him with them.

There was a rumour floating about last night at dinner that Draco's father had stormed into Dumbledore's office. She hadn't believed it. But it appeared that it was true.

Rumours had that Draco had done something to shame the family, and as punishment, Draco was not allowed to join in the fun and embark the ship. He was to spend the next two days at home, as everybody, even the teachers, would be away from school-there was nobody save for the ghosts in the castle. Even Mrs. Norris and Filch was on the ship right now, no doubt preparing to relax because he wasn't the one cleaning up the mess for once.

A small carriage suddenly appeared behind the line of teachers, it was pulled along a rickety path and towards Hogsmeade. Hermione thought she saw a flash of blonde, but she wasn't sure.

"I wish I knew if Draco Malfoy was in there," she said wistfully. She wanted to know if he really was sent home. If he was, she wondered what 'crime' he'd done to make his father so angry at him. To her surprise, the porthole window made a small whirring sound and her view of the carriage was enlarged. It was like she was looking through an enormous magnifying glass that was able to train on a moving object without her even touching the window.

She looked closely and when she saw his face looking sadly and enviously at the magnificent white ship, she felt something was missing in her. As the carriage tore away from her view, she sat back, the window resuming to its normal magnification (i.e-none at all), and chewed on her lip.

She had told herself that Draco was nothing more than a jerk that did not deserve her affections. So why did she feel so empty when she saw him leaving?

Draco said that he didn't like her, that the mirror didn't show her face, but she still couldn't forget the symptoms of lying on his face as he said those words.

Then there was him being herded away by his father. People said that Draco shamed the family. In Lucius Malfoy's eyes, was liking Hermione Granger, a mudblood Gryffindor, shameful? If Draco's leaving was her fault, then Hermione was determined that Draco would not get punished for it.

Neither of them should be punished simply because they liked each other. It just wasn't right.

* * *

After the introduction to the ship, the drill, and a small tour of the facilities on the ship, Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione wandered around the lobby, each finding a shop that suited them, but neither of them could decide on which restaurant to eat breakfast at.

Ginny and Ron wanted to go to the fanciest restaurant that had 'Royalty' as the theme. Harry wanted to go to a restaurant that was more like a diner, which had a modern muggle theme complete with whirring computers and video games, but Hermione wanted to go to the buffet restaurant that had 'Forest' as its theme.

In the end, they decided that seeing as they only have two breakfasts altogether on this voyage, they would go to Ginny's and Ron's choice first, then Harry's second. Tomorrow they would go to Hermione's choice of restaurant for breakfast. Hermione very much doubted that her appetite could withstand two breakfasts one after the other, but Ginny insisted that Hermione should at least sample some food from the two restaurants.

'The Royals' interior was very regal-it was furnished with round tables (Hermione and Harry was reminded of King Arthur and his Round Table) and golden thrones which they sat on. Although it was supposed to be the fanciest restaurant, Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous clothes the waiters and waitresses wore-they were all dressed up as jesters.

Breakfast at this restaurant was rather...different. They were served about three different types of pottage, which Hermione found was absolutely delicious, while Ron pulled a face.

"I thought only the poor were fed with pottage," Harry muttered, but Hermione shrugged. The theme of this restaurant really should have been 'Medieval times'.

The rest of the breakfast at 'The Royals' was pretty much similar to breakfast at Hogwarts: eggs (choice of scrambled, sunnyside up etc.), toast (butter, jam...), pancakes (honey, maple syrup) and coffee or tea. All of them ordered water because after much persuasion from Harry, they decided to order milkshakes for the next restaurant.

The Diner was comparatively brighter, with loud music pumping from muggle stereo systems. The waiter kindly showed them how to play Wii, which they abandoned their breakfast (same things: eggs, pancakes, toast, waffles, etc.) to play. Unsurprisingly, Harry and Ron beat Ginny and Hermione at tennis, though their lost was mainly due to Hermione losing interest and forgetting to swing her wii control.

They spent the next couple of hours or so split up into two groups. Harry and Ron brought along their broomsticks and played quidditch with some cruise staff on one of the many quidditch pitches on the ship. Hermione and Ginny decided to take a swim on the biggest pool, which was outside on the top of the ship.

Changing into swimsuits (taken from their walk-in closet that provided everything) the two dived into the pool, where the water was forming small waves as the ship slowly took off into the air.

This pool was the best, because it did not have a visible wall or something that blocked their view on either side of the ship. The two could swim right up to the sides of the ship, where there was an invisible barrier preventing them from falling out into the sea and watch as the ship was encircled by colourful sparks as it rose into the sky.

The pool water would change constantly: when they were tired of swimming, the pool water would be calm, when they had a race, the water would lap up some waves for a bit of a challenge, but best of all, the water did not have that chlorine smell and taste to it that they had to wash off.

Hermione, as she saw some Gryffindow and Ravenclaw boys get into the pool, suddenly wanted to know what Malfoy would look like in a pair of swimming trunks. She quickly shook her head and plunged her head into the water. That thought just made her want to laugh and sigh at the same time.

She wondered what Draco was doing at home right now.

* * *

"Hi mother, how's your day?" Draco asked as he saw his mother waiting for him in the dining room.

Narcissa immediately frowned. "I'm...fine, Draco." She replied, but not without a tone of suspicion. Draco was unusually obedient this morning, and strangely polite and nice. She wondered what happened to that proud son of hers.

"I'm really sorry that you couldn't go onto the cruise," she sighed, cutting up her bacon, watching as Draco pulled out his seat and started eating his breakfast.

"Yeah, well, I guess I deserved it." Draco answered, his eyes not meeting his mothers.

Narcissa placed her fork down. "Okay, something obviously happened. Tell me now."

Draco shook his head, "Get father to tell you," he said, stabbing his eggs with his fork with a sudden viciousness. "I've shamed the family, apparently, even though I insisted it was just a phase and nothing more."

Narcissa narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me you failed at school and got suspended," she hissed, her pale cheeks flushing in anger at that possibility.

"Don't be stupid," Draco said, "Of course I'm not suspended. But if you want details, ask father."

As if on cue, Lucius came into the dining room and sat down beside his wife, pointedly avoiding Draco's glare.

"Good morning Narcissa, Draco" Lucius said, trying to appear cheerful, but failing. Narcissa kissed him on the cheek, but Draco blatantly ignored his father's greeting.

Narcissa felt the atmosphere in the dining room thicken. She couldn't stand it. Though Draco wasn't the politest or nicest boy, she admitted, he always looked up to his father and obeyed every order Lucius gave him. Now Draco was positively mad at his father, to the point of indifference and disrespect.

"What happened, Lucius?" Narcissa asked, "why is Draco here instead of on that ship?"

"He shamed the family," Lucius replied. "He shamed us all." He looked coolly at Draco, who had frozen, his face red with anger.

Suddenly Draco threw down his fork and stood up, his tall figure shadowing his parents. "I told you, it was just a stupid PHASE!" he shouted, red sparks erupting from his wand, which was sticking out of the pocket of his robes.

"It was not, and you know it," Lucius said calmly. "Sit down and eat. I'll not tolerate such behaviour-"

"If you care so damn much about 'family time' during meals, then why don't you _ever _listen to me?" Draco asked, refusing to sit. "Have you listened to my side of the story yet, instead of just believing the lying words of that pug?"

"If you refer to Pansy, then call her by her name."

"She looks like a pug, and she is a pug," Draco emphasised, "no, wait she isn't-pugs can be cute, but she's definitely not. She's a backstabbing bit-"

"-No swear words," Lucius warned, his fork pointed at Draco in mid air. "You know the rules and the punishments for breaking them. I'll not ask you a third time-sit _down_."

Reluctantly, Draco did, but he was still angry. "I only pretended to fancy her so that I could win the bet, you know that, father."

"Fancy who?" Now Narcissa was beginning to get the picture.

"Hermione Granger, that filthy mudblood," Lucius said cruelly. "I've heard it all-the expensive gifts, the compliments, the business about the mirror-"

"-what mirror?" Draco asked, horrified. He thought he'd covered that up pretty well.

"The mirror, Draco, that apparently shows you the person your heart desires. One of your friends saw her image from behind you, but they thought it was just a prank. I, however, know that mirror's like that cannot tell lies. You forgot that every wish that the Wish Box grants will be written down and will be sent to whomever that paid for it. As I give you your allowance, and the money was from my vault, the letter comes to me."

"The mirror showed Hermione Granger's face?" Narcissa asked.

"Yes," Draco answered, and his mother gave a sharp gasp. "But like I said, I used to fancy her, but that's all over now. I don't like her anymore. The dare's finished-I only liked her because I thought it was fun. That's it." But even to him the words weren't convincing.

Lucius was frowning. "It doesn't seem that way to me, Draco. But I can arrange so that the Granger girl won't be so...attractive to you-"

"You lay a single finger on her," Draco snarled, "and I'm walking out on this family."

"Oh Draco!" Narcissa said worriedly, "Of course your father won't hurt Hermione Granger with such...stupid reasons." She glared at her husband.

"I've already sent a letter warning her to stay away from you. Dumbledore has got her shielded away from me so nicely." Lucius muttered, biting into his toast.

Draco glanced up at the sky, wondering if the ship was going to land at Malfoy Manor so he could escape from his prejudiced father. It was a childish wish, a cowardly one, he knew.

"Draco," Narcissa said, "I'd like you to join me this afternoon in my room-I've got something to show you."

"No presents," Lucius warned, "remember he's only here as a punishment."

"I know that," Narcissa said crossly.

Draco sighed. He'd give anything to be on that ship, it had everything, fancy restaurants, the best pools and quidditch pitches, the best shows, clubs, activities.

But there was also one thing that the ship had which Draco did not.

The ship had Hermione on it.

* * *

Hermione and Ginny triumphantly wrapped up their hand-made presents, and gave it to each other, though they already knew what their package contained.

They were sitting in a small glass house with Neville and several others. Exotic plants were growing all over the place in there, and there was a particular plant whose petals were like play-dough and could be shaped to anything they wanted. The one magical property of this plant was that whatever the person shaped their petals to, it would make the person in contact with the petal feel whatever the person who made it wanted the other to feel.

Hermione opened her present and saw a small pendant shaped like a rain drop. When she felt it, she immediately felt all the energy rushing back into her, and she felt more confident.

Ginny opened hers to a small heart shaped pin. When she held it in her hand, she felt herself become clearer minded and focused.

The magic of these petals would wear off eventually; the staff who were supervising them told that the maximum period of time the magic would work was about five hours, so they best use it as much as they can.

The two had been doing many fun activities since lunch (a quick bite at a pizza parlour)-which included dress robe designing (and making-though their ones turned out horribly), making wand accessories (something that both of them would never use-who needed a chicken head to put onto their wand?), creating some parchment broomsticks, players, balls and a spelled shoe box that looked exactly like a quidditch pitch and charmed it so they had a mini-game of quidditch (to Hermione, who wasn't keen on flying, this was actually rather enjoyable and better than the real game), plus they did a few dance classes (line-dancing, salsa, and a wizard country dance that neither of them really got), joined a singing contest (Ginny got second place, Hermione...didn't quite make it onto the top fifty).

Hermione had dropped Crookshanks off at the Familiars centre, where he prowled around proudly with the rest of the animals.

A letter had arrived bearing the Malfoy family stamp on it. She did not recognise the neat, swirly handwriting on the envelope so burned it immediately, knowing that the letter was not from Draco, but possibly his father. Merlin knew what kind of curses or harmful words Lucius Malfoy dared to send her; she wasn't going to take the risk and open it- she wasn't stupid.

All in all, by the time dinner rolled about, they were exhausted but content.

It wasn't until Dumbledore announced that there was to be a dance (strictly compulsory) did Hermione felt a bit unhappy. As Christmas was nearing in a couple of weeks, the headmaster wanted everyone in Hogwarts to 'feel like one, big, happy family'. So they would have to attend the formal dance and go with partners.

Hermione had no trouble thinking of who she would like to go to the dance with. Problem was, he wasn't even on the ship.

* * *

"Have a cup of tea," Narcissa said, giving Draco a small dainty tea cup with hardly any tea in it. He drained the cup with one gulp, his grey eyes were now no longer steel hard with anger, but had that faraway 'I simply can't be bothered anymore' look to it.

Suddenly Draco felt himself feel extremely drowsy. His eyelids fluttered and shut. His mind blanked out.

Narcissa straightened and strode to her chair, which was facing Draco's. "Tell me, Draco. Do you like Hermione Granger?"

"...Yes." Draco slurred.

"It's not a phase?"

"Probably...not."

"Even though you know she's a mudblood?"

"Yes. I used to think she was nothing, but getting to know her...has made me think differently."

"Differently how?"

"That she isn't so bad as father makes of her. That although she is a bossy know-it-all, she's not hard to talk to. She's nice...in a way, she's not a person who I want as an enemy though."

Narcissa nearly laughed at that.

"If your father and I were to move you to another school, away from her-"

"-That would be horrible," Draco choked, "though I'd live without her." His tone implied that though he'd survive, he won't be happy.

The effects of Veritaserum were wearing off, and Draco was coming out of his daze.

"I'll talk to your father." Narcissa left the room, leaving a very confused Draco behind, wondering why there was a trail of drool on his chin.

* * *

Hermione sat in her bedroom, the walk-in closet bringing out various dress robes for her to see. But none of them seem to match Hermione, and so when the closet was running out of ideas, Hermione's thoughts turned to the Wish Box.

She had one wish left, but she didn't really want to waste it on such a material and useless thing-a dress. But she reached for her purse anyway and rummaged through it for the box.

Instead of touching the hard, square object, her hand brushed against something soft. Surprised, she pulled it out. It was the present Draco had given her, the one he said was supposed to be her 'Christmas present'. She remembered that Parviti had tried to open it, but in vain.

She slowly undid the ribbon, wondering what kind of extravagant gift it was this time. Once the gift was free of its ribbon, the box enlarged slowly, all the time the wrappings melted away. Hermione waited patiently until the box stopped growing and curiously peered inside.

It was a dress robe.

Just by looking at it, all folded up in the box, she could tell that it was made of the highest quality of fabric. It was blue, with sapphire and a creamy baby blue on different layers. It reminded her of the dress robes she wore at the Yule Ball back in fourth year.

Astounded, she tried it on, careful not to ruin it by stepping on the hem. It was a perfect fit, though she could feel the dress robes slowly adjusting so it seemed like it was tailored for her.

Dashing back to her purse, she dug around for the diamond necklace. She lifted the velvet case from her small purse and opened it. The spell on the diamond necklace was slowly fading away, but its beauty still remained. She tried it on-it seemed to really bring out her dress robes.

Next she got out the hair-grooming kit and applied it on her hair, this time she decided to let her hair down instead of tying it up into a knot. As she combed her hair, the shiny curls bounced onto her back-no longer fizzy and bushy.

She realised, as she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror, everything that she used and wore all came from Draco. Everything about her reminded her of him. To be going to the dance, wearing all of his gifts, but going with a total stranger (Ron and Harry both had partners already-Lavender and Ginny respectively) was just wrong.

She glanced at her Wish Box, Ron said that this was the middle one. In that case... this box could grant her the wish she wanted. But she feared the results.

"..._plus you can wish for somebody to appear (has to be living) beside you..."_ The ad had read, she remembered.

She recalled his face as the distance between him and the ship lengthened. He wanted to be here. She could make that happen.

Gathering up her courage, she whispered her wish-the final wish she could use.

"I wish that Draco Malfoy was beside me."

* * *

Dinner was abysmal to Draco. Though the food, as usual, was cooked by a wonderful chief, and the silver ware was goblin made with the goblets carved from diamond, the atmosphere was like thick custard, dripping down each of their backs.

"I've talked to your father," Narcissa broke the dreadful silence.

Draco looked up hopefully, "and-?"

Lucius sighed. "I'm afraid that you're still not allowed on that cruise, Draco. Shaming the family by liking a m-"

"For Merlin's sake! Liking a girl isn't shameful!"

To Lucius's surprise, it was not Draco who blew up at him but his own wife. Narcissa had thrown down her fork and knife, which clattered loudly onto her plate.

Draco watched open-mouthed as his mother turned angrily to Lucius, who was so stunned that he didn't finish his sentence.

"Narcissa..." Lucius murmured, "You know that the pure Malfoy blood must not be tainted-"

"We're talking about two teenagers liking each other, NOT two people thinking about marriage!" Narcissa snapped.

Draco was nodding along with his mother. "It's not like I plan on marrying Granger," he cut in, smirking slightly as his father cowered against Narcissa's angry figure.

"Look, I'm not impressed nor satisfied that Draco decided to like Hermione Granger," Narcissa said, calming down and resuming to cutting up her steak. "But if you think carefully, aside from the fact that she's a mudblood, she has a lot of qualities that will ensure that Draco and our family benefits from their dating."

Draco blushed at the word 'dating' which is mother had thrown in so casually. "Er, I'm not that sure that she likes me that way, really. It may have been a potion or somethi-"

"Oh, she likes you," Lucius said scornfully. "That mirror showed it all-Pansy saw your face when Hermione was looking into it, waiting for you outside the Great Hall."

Draco felt strangely pleased-and flattered.

"Well that solves matters," Narcissa said impatiently.

"I'm not sure exactly what benefits Hermione Granger has to offer us," Lucius muttered. "She has neither money nor power-the only thing she has is a bright head."

"That's it! She can help Draco get his grades up!" Narcissa said triumphantly.

"My grades are already good enough, even without her help," Draco butted in, insulted at his mother's lack of faith in him.

"But your grades are not the best of the best. We want you to graduate as one of the top students in Hogwarts," Lucius said, "the Malfoy family has been looked down upon ever since Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix."

"That's another thing Hermione can give us," Narcissa said, looking from her husband to her son. "Our family has had countless searches and the majority of the community hides away from us. The Order has been monitoring our every move-if he dates Hermione Granger, a person whom they trust, they just might relax their grip on us slightly."

"Oh that won't work, dating that filthy mudblood would just make them more suspicious of us," Lucius said. "They'll be cornering us soon and demanding for us to spit out the antidote to the potion we supposedly fed her. They'll never believe that the two are dating because they liked each other. I'm not idiotic enough to take that risk."

"Dumbledore knows," Draco said softly, "He knew this from the very start. That's why he didn't mind me forming the Hermione Sucks Club, and that he placed a bet down so that teachers wouldn't tell them to knock it off, and the reason why he slipped Snape some ideas for possible potions to make, that he told Fred and George about the Lust Potion idea-"

"-Don't forget he fed Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter the idea of 'their' plan," Lucius said grimly. "Apparently although Ronald Weasley 'came up' with the idea, it was actually Dumbledore who conducted the whole thing."

"How?" Draco asked, amazed.

"When you and that Granger girl were in the hospital wing, he told Minerva to follow whatever Hermione wanted her to do. He guessed that you would be in the library, and that she would go there, with the help of Minerva, and 'commit' Sloth. He also knew that Pansy was looking for you all over the place, and so Dumbledore told them that you were in the library. He was sure that Pansy would misunderstand your conversation and say so. He got Madam Pince to kick Harry out, so that either Weasley or Potter would hear Pansy's accusations. The next step was to plant the idea in their minds, so Dumbledore sent them a letter of a prank he supposedly pulled in his school days beforehand so that Weasley would-"

"-recall the letter and quickly think up of that plan, which wasn't actually their plan to start off with, they just used the idea from Dumbledore!" Draco gaped. "He-what the-?"

"That simplifies matters, Dumbledore obviously set the two up. He would know that the two of them like each other, and that Draco didn't plant something in Hermione's drink. Therefore the Order would have their doubts about us!" Narcissa said excitedly. "He obviously wants the two together! Lucius, you can't deny that..."

"Oh alright," he snapped. "But Draco's not allowed on the cruise anyway, his pass was taken away from him and the ship already deleted his name from the list. But I'll let you date this Hermione Granger, if she'll agree to loosen up the security that's around us-and get your grades up."

"And," Narcissa said mysteriously, "take me to those movie theatres-I quite like the idea of watching talking, photos tell a story."

The other two stared at her.

"Wow, mothe-what the hell?" Draco looked down and realised that his lower half of his body had disappeared-soon his entire body had vanished from Malfoy Manor. He wasn't apparating; the feeling was quite nice, but he certainly wasn't travelling by a port key either.

He saw himself flung up into the sky, nearing the gigantic white ship that was now sailing over Buckingham Palace.

Somebody wanted him to join in the fun.

* * *

Hermione stared hopefully inside her empty Wish Box. The runes around it had blurred away, so she knew that the magic of it had worn off. But she did not see Draco anywhere.

Suddenly a huge crash came from the window. Hermione leapt up and saw Draco plastered to the window, groaning as the wind tore at him and trying to breathe properly from the altitude. She loosened the latch and watched as he tumbled in, clutching his head painfully.

"Where the hell am I?" He muttered, getting up.

The first thing he saw was the blue dress robe's hem. He recognised it immediately. He slowly looked up and saw Hermione's amused face peering down at him.

"Hermione Granger!" He gasped. "That means-I'm on the ship?"

"Yeah, I think you are." Hermione said, grinning. She helped him up. "Guess the Wish Box did work properly."

Draco brushed himself down-his black robes were covered with dust. "You...wished for me?"

Hermione nodded, "I needed a partner for the dance."

Draco was rather hoping she said something along the lines of, 'I missed you' or 'I wanted you to join in the fun with me'. But such corny lines couldn't be expected of Hermione Granger, right?

"It's in five minutes," she added, "Ginny's been knocking on my door ages ago."

"I'm not going to some dance looking like this," Draco retorted, gesturing to his wild, travel worn appearance. "I'm going to need some proper dress robes, at least."

At once, the walk-in closet door flung open and a dress robe that matched Hermione's came out. Draco strode into the bathroom and tried it on. It was a perfect fit.

"C'mon," Hermione dragged him out into the lounge.

Ginny stared as Draco came out of her room. "He's been hiding in your room all this time?" She was horrified.

"NO!" Draco yelled. "I just got here-I'm not a pervert!"

"Oh." Ginny said, "I thought you were-you always looked a bit dodgy to me." Then she placed her slippers onto her shoe cupboard and tried on the dainty snow white flat-heels that appeared. "Perfect!" She said.

Hermione and Draco copied her, and soon the three of them wore shoes that fitted them comfortably. They headed to the moving staircase that brought them up to the top deck of the ship.

* * *

The pool that Ginny and Hermione had swum in earlier had been frozen to ice to serve as a dance floor. The staff had set up a small shield around the ship so that only a small gentle breeze could be felt-and that nobody would drop down the sides. The glass house that was there earlier had vanished, replaced by a small silver tent where heaps of food (buffet style) sat steaming hot, tables and chairs magically appeared when people were tired from dancing or wanted to eat.

With the clear night skies dotted and jewelled by the stars, the music pumping from invisible systems, it was better than the Yule Ball-way better.

People were trying to dance on the pool, Hermione and Draco included. But the ice was so slippery that none of them danced properly, they kept slipping and laughing as they fell on their butts.

Dumbledore surveyed the entire scene with an amused air. A flick of his wand and everybody's shoes and heels were replaced by ice-skates.

"This is great!" Draco whooped as he and Hermione glided on the ice, having a small contest. They tried dancing in ice skates next, and it proved to be better and more fun than dancing in regular shoes on the ice. Even Hermione was having fun, though she was no professional ice skater. The ice skates guided them along the ice, teaching them new moves.

By the end of that night, Hermione and Draco were so tired from dancing and laughing and eating and the occasional fall that when they went to bed (Draco was allocated his own room elsewhere on the ship) they went to sleep immediately, a smile on their faces.

* * *

"There, see," Narcissa and Lucius were on the ice, "this dancing on ice skates isn't so bad."

"Whatever," Lucius grumbled, but he was smiling.

* * *

**During Christmas break**

Hermione and Draco lined up for tickets at the movie theatre, arguing which movie to see. In the end they compromised and decided to watch both of the movies one after the other.

With hands full of popcorn and drinks, the two entered the movie theatre, where they watched a rather large boy (who reminded Hermione of Dudley) struggle with his many bags of candies and popcorn.

As the lights dimmed, Draco reached for Hermione hand, and they sat there, blushing in the dark, holding hands.

Suddenly their hands were wrenched away from each other. They looked up and saw Lucius glaring down at them, chewing popcorn angrily while Narcissa jabbered away about her expectations for the movie.

With a small laugh, they turned back, their hands on their own laps.

Oh well, they'll wait until Lucius was not there.

* * *

A/N: I like the last bit, (anybody who read my At the Movies story recognised the big person?-No? Oh well :] ) PLEASE REVIEW!


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